Watercolour
by LordMaster6
Summary: Post Rule 51 fic, in which Tony somehow finds himself on the run from every cop and soldier in Mexico, as well as the Reynosa Cartel. Mild Tiva.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! I wasn't planning on posting this until I'd finished my holiday, but I thought what the hell? I've got ten chapters written, a vague idea for the other few, it's all good.**

**So this is obviously a post Rule 51 fic, it's got everyone, even if Ducky and Palmer only have very short cameos, they didn't really fit into this story, sorry. It is mostly a Tony and Ziva story, because that's what I do. Gibbs is there, he's a bit weird in this, but then he was a bit weird in Rule 51 (missing Ziva's ceremony to talk to that awful woman Hart, what's up with that?).**

**So far there have been references to Truth or Consequences, Rule 51 (bit obvious, that one), Obsession and probably some others.**

**Thanks to my buddy who agreed to help me out editing wise, offer an opinion or two. I'll ask her if she wants her name mentioned on the next chapter.**

**The T rating is for some swear words mostly, there's a bit of harmless innuendo too, but mostly the rating is for the swearing.**

**I don't do disclaimers, to me they're a huge cosmic joke.**

* * *

The elevator doors opened and the team, still dressed in their best from the ceremony, piled out. There was still no sign of Tony or Gibbs, their absence was felt by everyone. Abby sighed, looking around the bullpen.

'Why are we at work anyway? We should be out partying!' she declared. 'I mean, it's not every day your best friend becomes an American.' Abby reasoned.

'Hey! I thought I was your best friend.' Asked Tim, defensive.

'I'm still annoyed about that weight comment, McAnnoying.' Abby told him. 'Give it a couple more days.'

'Miss Sciuto, you can party all you like after 1700, until then, I expect you to be in your lab, working. You two still have to finish up your incident reports for the Airfield shooting.' Vance interrupted. Abby sighed and made her way for the elevator again, Ducky and Palmer in tow.

Ziva sat down at her desk, she knew she should have been happy right then, but she couldn't help wondering where on earth Gibbs and Tony were. Tony she knew was on some mission for Vance, though what that involved or where it had taken him, Ziva was unsure. She looked up and watch Vance enter MTAC, his phone to his ear, looking concerned. As for Gibbs, well, she had no idea, frankly.

'Sucks that Tony and Gibbs couldn't make it.' McGee said, trying to avoid starting his report for a few more minutes.

'Gibbs has had a rough week, and Tony is doing something for Vance.' Ziva replied, turning on her computer, she didn't like where this conversation was leading. The ceremony had left her emotionally drained, and she was secretly looking forward to the monotony of paperwork.

'I get it with Tony, but what did Gibbs have to do that was so important?' McGee wondered aloud, Ziva gritted her teeth.

'Tim, I would like to write my report now, if you don't mind.' Ziva muttered, McGee took the hint and bowed his head, as Ziva's phone began to ring. She looked at the Caller ID and frowned, answering. 'Hi, Tony.'

'Hey, sorry I missed your ceremony.' Tony replied, Ziva barely registered his words, the sound of screeching tires in the background had her worried.

'You are working for Vance, I understand.' Ziva replied, she heard more screeching tires, car horns blaring and Tony swearing at someone. The pencil in Ziva's other hand broke. 'What's going on Tony? Where are you?' she noticed McGee watching and signalled for him to trace the call.

'Uh, nothing much. I think Gibbs learnt how to drive from Franks.' Tony replied.

'You found Franks?' Ziva asked, surprised.

'In the same sense that we found Gibbs the other day.' Tony replied. 'I got you a present.'

'You what?'

'Yeah, it's in your desk drawer.' Tony replied, Ziva pulled the drawer open and almost dropped the phone.

'Tell me that is not what I think it is Tony.'

'I dunno, what do you think it is?' he asked. Ziva eyed the little jewellery box in her drawer apprehensively, she would have been less terrified by a nuclear bomb. 'No, relax. Trust me, I know what you're thinking, and that is not what you think it is.'

'What is it then?' Ziva wondered, Tony chuckled.

'I'm not going to ruin the surprise, open it.' Tony ordered. Ziva didn't move, Franks swore in the background. 'Uh, I don't have a lot of time here, so could you get on with it already?' Tony asked her. Ziva reached for the box and flicked it open, revealing a lapel pin in the shape of a US Flag. She grinned and breathed a sigh of relief.

'Thank you Tony.'

'Yeah, I thought you might need it, since no one is ever going to believe we let you become one of us.' Tony bragged.

'Tony I probably know more about the constitution than you ever will.' more screeching tires, a weird thumping sound and muffled Spanish had Ziva out of her seat and moving to McGee's desk to see if he had a location yet. He did, Tony was in Mexico, narrowing down to some town close to the border.

'Moot point, I was born here.' He retorted.

'I do not know if that says something about the education system, or just you, Tony.'

'Let's blame the education system, it's an American thing to blame the government.' Tony replied.

'Everyone blames their government Tony, not just Americans.'

'I have to go now, but can you tell Gibbs that he really needs to get to Stillwater, soon as possible. He should probably take backup.'

'Stillwater? Tony, what's going on?' Ziva insisted.

'Sorry, I gotta go, take care Ziva.' The line went dead, Ziva eyed the little red dot on McGee's screen that showed Tony's location, moving along some road. As they watched, the dot disappeared, McGee swore and began to type furiously.

'You lost him! Get it back McGee.' Ziva ordered.

'I can't, the GPS is disabled.'

'What does that mean?'

'Uh, he's either some place where the satellite can't get a lock on his location, or it's been destroyed.' Ziva felt a sinking feeling in her gut, she was willing to bet good money on the latter.

'Find Gibbs, tell him he needs to go to Stillwater, now.' Ziva told McGee as she moved back to her desk, pulling out her SIG and badge.

'What? Wait, where are you going?'

'I'm going to Tony's last known location, then I'm going to find him, and probably kill him for ruining my day.' Ziva replied as she marched for the elevator, McGee stared after her, he'd never been so scared of a woman in a white dress suit before.


	2. Chapter 2

**The response to this has been pretty awesome, the best I've had so far. I guess I should let my rockin editor LouC plug my stories on other websites more often in future. Keep it up people, I'm a sucker for a good review.**

**Someone asked about a Rule 51 reference, I refer you to the season 7 finale, entitled Rule 51.**

* * *

Tony hung up on Ziva and glanced over at Franks, things had gone to hell in a hand basket over the last forty minutes, and having Franks along for the ride was not reassuring Tony. In fact, he probably wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for Franks.

'_What's your assignment here?' Franks asked him, Tony eyed the former NIS agent, noticing the gun, and the very pissed look in his eye._

'_Director's orders. Observe and Report.' Tony replied._

'_I'll take it from here, probie.' Tony glanced at the bloody stump, Franks followed his gaze. 'I can pull the trigger with my thumb.' Franks added. Tony watched as he moved in towards Rivera, thinking fast. It was too crowded, this was not the place to pull it off. Did Franks have a death wish or something? What about his family? Tony chased after Franks, but it was too late, Rivera turned and spotted them, the blood drained out of the Mexican's face as Tony placed a hand on Franks shoulder._

'_Shit.' Tony swore and set off after Rivera, who ran down the crowded street, ducking and weaving people, Franks was not far behind them both, shouting death threats at Tony for messing up his plan. Rivera came undone when he tried to cut across the street to get away from Tony but was instead hit by a car. Tony pulled him to his feet, he had a few scratches and would develop some real nasty bruises in the coming days, but he'd live._

'_You are an idiot, DiNozzo, the people here know me, they're going to report this to La Policia, you're going to go to prison.' Rivera told him._

'_I'm not going to kill you.' Tony replied. Rivera's phone rang, Tony grinned and pulled it out of Rivera's jacket pocket. 'I wonder what your sister has to say?' Tony flipped the phone open and put it to his ear._

'_Hermano, I need a favour from you. Call Gibbs and tell him to be on the next flight down, he is going to play my game, or I am going to shoot his father.' Paloma said in Spanish._

'_You have Jackson Gibbs?' Tony replied in Spanish._

'_Who are you?' Paloma asked, switching to English. 'How do you have this phone?_

'_Well, you harm a hair on Jackson Gibbs's head, and you'll find out.' Tony replied. Paloma swore at him in Spanish and hung up._

'_I'm guessing this means I can't kill him?' Franks asked, Tony shook his head as he switched off Rivera's phone._

'_Not yet, anyway.' Tony replied. They all heard the sirens at the same time, still a few streets off. Tony looked around, the crowds had disappeared, the people of this town knew when trouble was coming. 'We need to get out of here.' Franks nodded and moved over to a parked car, he smashed in the driver's window and let himself in. Moments later the trunk popped open._

'_Put Rivera in the back.' Franks ordered as he began to hotwire the car. Tony obeyed, cuffing Rivera and taking his gun before he forced the man into the boot. Rivera shouted at him in Spanish but Tony ignored him as he jumped in the passenger side. The car roared to life just before La Policia rounded the corner._

'_Oh shit.' Tony muttered as Franks slammed his foot on the gas, they raced off around the next corner._

'You shouldn't have made that call, they'll probably trace your phone now.' Franks told him.

'They? Who's they Franks? Oh yeah, the fucking Mexican police! What kind of genius tries to kill a Mexican Justice Department man in broad fucking daylight?' Tony asked, Rivera chose that moment to kick at the boot and shout some more muffled Spanish.

'My eyesight ain't so good these days, might have missed him in the dark.' Franks replied. 'Get rid of the phone already.'

'You're not my boss.' Tony muttered as he threw the phone out the window, it shattered underneath the tires of another car.

'Speaking of your boss, where the hell is he in all this?

'If you're talking about Gibbs, I don't have a fucking clue.' Tony replied. 'I'm not even entirely sure what I'm doing here. All Vance told me was to tail that guy.'

'I guess you already know he's dirty?'

'Well I wasn't born yesterday. I mean, I don't think the world of Vance, but I know that he wouldn't have me tailing one of the good guys.' Tony retorted. 'I know he's Paloma Reynosa's brother.'

'Did you know this bastard called the cartel down to my joint after La Policia left? I watched him order his boys to chop up Colonel Bell.' Tony stared at Franks. 'He shot me too. I owe him.'

'Question is, can you prove it?' Tony asked.

'I saw it with my own two eyes, what more do you want?'

'It's not what I want, it's what they want.' Tony replied. 'They, as in the Mexicans. They're going to want proof before they convict one of their own.' Franks laughed.

'Rivera is never gonna get a trial, ain't gonna live long enough for that.'

Tony gritted his teeth. 'Yeah, well we're not going to live much longer if we don't switch cars, it's only a matter of time before La Policia get a description on the car you stole.' Tony replied.

Franks nodded and veered off into an empty side street. 'Get us a new car.' Franks ordered. 'I'm gonna shut that asshole up.'

'No! You can't kill him. Do that, and we lose our leverage on Paloma, she'll kill Jackson Gibbs.' Franks scowled.

'I know that. Now scram.' Franks growled. Tony mumbled a quick prayer under his breath as he left the car and moved to the street.

Franks had chosen this spot for a reason, across the road was a parking lot for a train station. Tony picked a pretty average looking sedan and used his old training from his days in Baltimore to force the lock. It took him longer than Franks had needed to hotwire the car, so by the time he backed into the alley behind the old car, Franks was getting antsy. 'Damn, what the hell were you doing out there? Calling the girlfriend again?' Franks asked.

'Girlfriend? Ziva is not my girlfriend. Gibbs has rules about that.' Tony replied, Franks shook his head, he opened the boot and pulled out Rivera, who was gagged. His eyes stared at Tony as they dragged him to the new car and again forced him into the trunk.

'That's the best you got?' Franks asked.

'Best I got what?' Tony asked as he pulled out of the alley.

'You're buying her gifts, apologising for not showing up to stuff, tell her to "take care".' Franks shook his head disbelievingly. 'You're whipped DiNozzo, tell me you're at least getting laid in return.'

'I am not talking about this with you.' Tony replied coldly. 'I'm mad at you, remember? I'm a wanted fugitive because of you.'

'Hey, I wanted to put a bullet in his head in the first place. This is your party son, not mine.'

'No, this is Vance's party.' Tony corrected. 'Do you have a phone?'

'No.'

'Course not.'

'Why?'

'Vance sent me down here, maybe he might wanna help me out of this.' Explained Tony, the subsequent chuckle from Franks told Tony what he thought of that plan.

'Makes more sense than driving round in circles all day.'

'You have a better idea?' snapped Tony.

'Since we're not gonna kill him, yes.'

'About time.'

'Take the next right.' Franks ordered.

Franks led him out to a bar, which Tony was surprised to find was closed. It was also just down the road from Franks burnt down shack. 'Why this place?' Tony asked Franks as he parked around the back.

'The lady who owned the joint was killed in the same fight as Bell.' Franks replied. 'Camilla is another reason why I'm going to be putting a bullet in his head.' Franks told Tony, who grimaced. He was going to have a hell of a time keeping Rivera alive. Franks broke down the back door, they moved into the bar and closed the blinds. Tony secured Rivera to a chair in the middle of the room as Franks helped himself to a Corona.

'I need to make phone call, but not from here. Don't kill him okay?' Tony told Franks.

'Fine, I'll keep the bastard alive.'

'And in one piece.' Tony added, glancing at Franks bloody stump, Franks scowled.

'You got no faith in me, do you boy?'

'Not really, no.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Brief chapter, if anyone found the language in the last chapter offensive, I apologise, but there was a warning and the rating is correct.**

* * *

Director Leon Vance could unequivocally say that his time in the top office had been far more interesting than he had anticipated. 'Glorified paper pusher my ass,' Vance mumbled under his breath. That was how a former partner had described his job. Well, thanks to certain team two floors below his office, he was being kept very entertained.

'Sir, there's a call coming in for you, from Special Agent DiNozzo,' one of the computer techs told him. Vance nodded.

'Leave the room,' he ordered. He waited until the techs had all evacuated MTAC before picking up the phone. 'You have some explaining to do DiNozzo,' Vance began.

Tony sighed into the phone. 'What do you want to know?'

'Have you switched on TV in the last hour DiNozzo?' Vance asked, making Tony laugh.

'I don't have time for TV.'

'You should make time. When you and Franks took Rivera, did you know that there was a TV crew in the area?' Vance asked. 'They caught everything.' The string of profanities from Tony gave him his answer. 'The Mexicans have identified both of you, you're number one and two on their most wanted list.'

'Who got number one?' Tony asked suddenly, Vance gritted his teeth.

'Ever the smart ass,' Vance muttered. 'I have the DOJ, FBI, CIA and the SecNav riding my ass, wanting to know how I didn't know one of my top agents was masquerading as a Cartel hit man.'

'You told them I'm not though, right?' Tony asked. His insecurities rarely affected his work, but it would still be a long time before he forgot how easily Vance made him Agent Afloat. The way Vance had disregarded his value to MCRT without batting an eyelid.

'It's a difficult situation,' Vance replied. 'I can't publicly support you right now, DiNozzo. We have nothing on Rivera, not even some kind of proof that he is related to Paloma Reynosa.'

'I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have just let Franks off Rivera.' Tony mumbled.

'Maybe you should have.' Vance replied.

'I can't do that now, when we took him, Reynosa called Rivera. She's got Jackson Gibbs,' Tony explained. 'I've already made contact with the team, they should be on their way up there.'

'Don't have a recording of that conversation by any chance?' asked Vance, hopefully.

'No, that would have been way too easy,' Tony replied, frustrated.

'Look, I have a video conference with SecNav in two minutes. Call back in 12 hours,' Vance told Tony. 'Keep Rivera alive, keep out of sight, and don't commit any more felonies on Mexican soil.' Vance hung up and left MTAC to tell the techs to set up the conference. He took a moment to look down at the bullpen and was not surprised to find it almost empty. Only Palmer from autopsy stood in the middle of the room with a handful of papers, watching a TV broadcast of the abduction, his mouth agape.


	4. Chapter 4

Gibbs' Dodge Challenger pulled to a screaming halt outside what was left of his father's store. He glared at the smoking ruins, and exited the car, McGee followed suit.

'Figured you'd be here soon enough Leroy.' Gibbs turned to the Sheriff.

'What the hell happened here?' Gibbs demanded.

'Couple a SUV's loaded with Mexican guys rolled in, this lady went inside, came out with your father. They torched the place and left.' The sheriff replied.

'That's it?' Gibbs asked. 'You didn't try stopping them or something?' he shouted at the sheriff. 'You know, your job?'

'I was outnumbered twelve to one, they had a lot of guns.' The sheriff replied, defensive.

Gibbs turned to McGee. 'Coordinate with the fire chief, and this guy.' He said, before walking off with his phone.

'He's real piece of fucking work, your boss.' The sheriff muttered.

'So did you get their licence plates?' McGee began, ignoring the dig at Gibbs.

'Yeah.' The sheriff pulled out a notepad and listed off the numbers to McGee, who put them on his iPhone, he sent a quick message to Abby to put out a BOLO on the plates. He continued to question the sheriff about how many of them there were, and what they were carrying. They were definitely the same guys he and Abby had run into in Mexico, the gun models matched those known to be owned by First Defence PMC.

'_So much for it being over,_' McGee thought.

'I trust by now you have heard the news?' Paloma said as she answered her phone, she wasn't in the mood for niceties.

'Yeah, lucky I made him get that insurance on the shop last year.' Gibbs replied. 'I thought you were going to start with my former mother in law.'

'Well it occurred to me that you are not going to be very cooperative. I did some digging, did you really shoot another NCIS agent last year? My, and they call me cold, I at least have someone do my dirty work for me. Of course, in this case, I might make an exception.'

'I want to know he's safe.' Gibbs demanded, he had to consciously remind himself to not break the phone in his hand, it was his only link to Paloma, and his father.

'He's fine. He will stay that way, as long as you cooperate.' Paloma told him. 'First, you will call your boy DiNozzo and tell him to release my brother.'

'Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Alejandro.' Gibbs smirked. 'I have a question for you. What's more important to you, my cooperation, or your brother?'

'Keep talking, your father is going to need a closed casket at his funeral.'

'I'm not averse to making sure you end like your dear old dad, if that's how it's going to be.'

'We have reached an impasse, it would seem. You will be hearing from me.' Paloma hung up on him.

'Find out how she got in without us knowing, and stop her leaving McGee.' Gibbs ordered as they got back into the car, McGee pulled out his laptop. After a few minutes of typing he swore, surprising Gibbs.

'Uh, slipped out boss, I don't really think you're uh... what I said.' Said a sheepish McGee.

'What have you got?'

'A corporation out of the Cayman Islands believed to be owned by the Reynosa cartel, happens to own another company that hires out private aircraft.' McGee explained. 'One of their Gulfstream's flew in from Mexico late last night, and flew out again twenty minutes ago from an airfield in Philadelphia.'

Gibbs gripped the steering wheel, glaring at the road ahead of him. It wasn't the first time McGee had found himself wishing he could be anywhere besides in a car with Gibbs. Gibbs's phone rang, he checked the caller ID, before answering. 'What do you want?' Gibbs demanded.

'I will try not to take that tone personally, Gibbs.' Hart replied.

'I don't have time for this, I have to get to Mexico and-'

'No.' Hart cut him off, McGee's mouth actually fell open when Gibbs stopped mid sentence. 'As your lawyer, the last place you can be right now is Mexico. I was just talking with Director Vance, we both agree that the best thing is for you to remain here, and let other NCIS agents who are not facing impending murder charges take care of this.' Gibbs snarled and threw his phone out of the window.

A few seconds later Gibbs braked, hard. McGee watched him get out of the car and walk back for his now broken phone. Through the rear view mirror, he watched as his boss surveyed the broken mess of plastic and computer chips. McGee exited the car as well, he seriously considered going back for his bullet proof vest.

'I don't even think Abby can fix it now, boss.' McGee told him, trying to lighten the atmosphere, Gibbs looked up at McGee, the look he received made McGee wish he'd just kept his mouth shut. He'd never seen his boss looking lost before. He looked down at the phone, breaking the moment, and spotted something that made him smile. 'But I can take this chip, put it in a new phone, and all's good again.' McGee said, pulling the chip out from the debris. Gibbs just stared at him for the longest time, McGee couldn't read him though.

'I'm sorry Tim.' Gibbs said in a quiet voice, he put his hand out for the chip and McGee handed it over, still surprised by the apology, and trying to work out why it was said. 'Wait here for a second, okay?' Gibbs told him, he nodded absentmindedly as Gibbs made his way back to the car. Moments later the car roared to life, McGee turned and watched his boss burn rubber as he disappeared around the next bend.

**Thank you for all the reviews, please keep them coming.**


	5. Chapter 5

**In case anyone was wondering, Chapter 4 is fixed, that was weird, first time FF has given me trouble. Anyway, enjoy, and review, thanks.**

* * *

Tony entered the bar to find Franks on his second beer. Rivera was gagged, which Tony saw as an improvement. He took a moment to make sure that Franks hadn't taken the opportunity to get in a couple of cheap shots before he helped himself to a Corona. Franks watched Tony remove the cap and drain half the beer in one go.

'So what did your director have to say?' Franks asked.

'There was a bloody TV crew, Franks.' Tony replied. 'They filmed the entire fucking abduction.'

'Heh, that sucks.' Franks replied, Tony let out a strangled laugh and finished off the beer, Franks handed him a second one.

'I hate warm beer.' Tony remarked as he started on the second one.

'It's out of my hands.' Franks replied in his most solemn voice.

* * *

'I can't find the beer.' Tony called from behind the bar several hours later. Franks, who had been singing something Mexican into his empty beer bottle, sat up straight. Tony looked around and spotted something else. 'Hey look! Tequila!'

'You know what they say, when in Rome.' Franks told him as Tony returned to their table with the bottle and two shot glasses.

'Eat Pizza?' Tony asked, they both burst into laughter. Tony wiped his eyes dry and poured the first round, more tequila found its way onto the table, amongst a litany of empty beer bottles.

'Yep, and when in Mexico,'

'Tequila time!' Tony replied, they tossed back the shots, both wincing. Franks took the bottle and poured two more shots.

'Here's to family.' Franks said, thinking of his daughter in law and granddaughter. Tony took his shot glass, it wasn't his father he had in mind as he drained the second shot.

'Don't know if I'm gonna get out of this one.' Tony mumbled as Franks poured the third round. 'Which sucks, cos there are a lot of things left unsaid.'

'Yeah?' Tony downed the third shot, Franks glass remained on the table.

'Abby. I don't hug her enough, she hugs me lots, but I don't hug her enough.' Tony explained. 'And McGeek, I never got to tell him my foolproof pick up line.'

'No such thing as a foolproof pickup line, kid.' Franks told him, passing him his own shot glass, Tony swallowed that as well.

'Maybe I could try it out on Ziva, see if you're right. If that doesn't work, I dunno.' Tony said, Franks poured him another shot, Tony failed to notice that Franks had completely stopped drinking, and how at regular intervals, the older man would glare at Rivera.

'Don't think pickup lines will work on that girl.'

'Nothing works on that girl.' Tony replied.

'Ever tried the truth?' Franks asked.

'Not sure I have the balls for that.' Tony replied, Franks handed him another shot.

'This will help.' Franks advised, Tony tossed back the drink.

'Hey Mikey,' Tony began.

'Yeah?'

'I don't feel too good.' Tony groaned, before he fell forward, his head landing on the table. Franks shook his head.

'Well I gotta say, I didn't think he'd last that long.' Franks said, turning towards Rivera, who was still tied up and gagged in the middle of the room. 'Now to fix you good.' Franks told him, pulling out his gun. He stood and pointed it in the general direction of Rivera, however the two shots and dozen or so beers were having an effect. 'Hold still, you fucker.' Franks told him.

The door to the bar burst open, Franks turned to see a woman in the dim light provided by the moon outside. 'I'll be right with you honey.' Said Franks, turning back to Rivera. Ziva scowled and marched forward pulling the gun out of Franks hand, he didn't resist as Ziva pushed him back down into his seat.

'I see I missed a real party.' Ziva remarked, eyeing the mess of beer bottles and shot glasses. She turned to Tony and moved to his side, checking he was still alive.

'Gimme my gun.' Franks demanded in a petulant voice.

'So you can shoot him? I don't think so.' Ziva replied, straightening.

'He's got it coming, lady.'

'I agree. But not know.' Ziva replied. 'There is too much at stake Franks.'

'Horse shit.' Franks replied.

'I think it is time you return to your family Franks, check on them.' Ziva told him. 'They are your responsibility.' Franks eyed off the new American, but even blind drunk, he could tell when he was beat.

'Fine.' Franks grumble, he got to his feet and swayed. 'Maybe in the morning, huh?' Ziva nodded, Franks staggered off, mumbling something about the can.

Ziva returned her attention to comatose Tony, she sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 'Oh, you are going to regret this in the morning.' She told him.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony woke, and immediately wished he hadn't done so. He couldn't remember how he'd ended up lying spreadeagled over a couch, his head next to a bucket of puke. He groaned and retched, not for the first time it would seem.

'I would prefer to leave you there for a few hours, but we have to move.' Tony wiped his mouth and looked up at Ziva.

'The torture is complete.' He declared. 'I suppose you are here to tell me what an idiot I was last night.'

'Hmm, I think I will save that for later. As I said, we have to get moving.' She handed him a bottle of water. 'Clean out the bucket, I will wait in the car with Rivera.'

'Where's Franks?' Tony asked, Ziva stopped at the door and turned.

'Back to his family, now hurry up.' Ziva ordered.

'Definitely mad.' Tony muttered as he stood. As he washed out his puke bucket, he thought back to the previous night, trying to figure out what he did to piss her off, apart from the obvious. He wasn't born yesterday, he knew better than to drink on the job. In the midst of feeling absolutely hung over, and guilty about pissing off Ziva, Tony couldn't help feeling better with the knowledge that Ziva had his back now. He definitely preferred her to Franks, in the looks department alone, she was a huge improvement, she was the only woman he knew who looked hot in cargo pants. Tony wondered if she got them tailored to cup her ass like that.

Then he puked up some more and had to rewash the bucket. By the time he'd made his way out to Ziva's car, she was silently fuming. He slumped in the passenger seat with the bucket in his arms, he noticed that Rivera was bound and gagged in the boot as Ziva took off.

'Can you take it easy behind the wheel today? I'm not feeling too good here.' Tony begged her, she shot him a look that told Tony that she would not be going easy on him, not for one second.

'Do not talk to me.' She told him.

'Ziva, come on. Look, I'm already seriously regretting this. You don't need to-' Ziva cut him off with another glare.

'Your breath stinks, Tony.' She told him. 'So please, stop talking already.'

'Oh.' Tony shut his mouth obediently.

* * *

An hour later and Ziva pulled up outside a beach shack similar to the one Franks used to live in. Silently, the two partners transferred Rivera from the car into the only bedroom. Tony went to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth, twice.

Tony found Ziva in the kitchen, reading an article about the kidnapping in a Mexican paper. 'So what is this place?' Tony asked her as he helped himself to the painkillers she'd put out for him.

'It belongs to a friend.' Ziva replied, not looking up from the paper.

'Um, I need to call Vance, can I borrow the car?' Tony asked, Ziva shook her head. Instead she pulled out a cell phone.

'I borrowed it from NCIS, it is encrypted, make your call Tony.' Tony took the phone and went outside to make his call. Vance had nothing to tell him, he was trying to convince the Mexicans of Rivera's guilt, but without proof, it was turning out to be pretty futile. Tony hung up and went back inside, Ziva was now doing the crossword, still ignoring him.

'What's your problem Ziva? So I had a few drinks with Franks, cut me some slack, I got the entire fucking Mexican police force on my tail.'

Ziva slammed down the newspaper and looked up at him, the furious look in her eyes made Tony wished he'd just kept his mouth shut. 'That is exactly my problem Tony. You cannot afford to get that drunk right now, it was a stupid thing to do.' Tony opened his mouth to reply, but Ziva shook her head. 'No, I am not finished. What were you thinking? Kidnapping Rivera, what the hell was that meant to achieve?'

'I don't know, trying to deter Paloma fucking Reynosa from killing off Gibbs senior?'

'I still wish you not done this.' Ziva replied. 'I mean, your timing really left a lot to be desired, Tony.'

'Look, I'm sorry I missed your ceremony. I was following orders.'

'This is not about the ceremony!' Ziva shouted back.

'Then what?' Tony asked Ziva, who opened her mouth, but then on second thought, closed her mouth, biting her lip instead. Tony eyed her, it was classic Ziva, the moment would come along where a normal person would talk about feelings, she chose that moment to go mute. 'Talk, Ziva.'

'Do you have any idea how easy you were to find?' Ziva asked him finally, Tony knew it wasn't what she wanted to say. 'The Mexicans, who is to say they would not have tracked you down just as easily?'

'They're not you, for starters.' Ziva shook her head and made to leave the room, Tony chased after her and seized her by the arm, pulling her back towards him. 'Do you ever get tired of not being honest?'


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone, I'm back in Australia, bit of a bittersweet moment, the holiday is over, but I'm back just in time for a really big football match this weekend. Did you know that it is impossible to watch AFL matches in the internet overseas, without paying for them?**

**I start Uni again on the Monday, so between that and work, I don't know how much time I'll get for writing, but I promise to try get this story finished before season 8.**

**Back on topic, I was surprised to see some people call Ziva a bitch after that last chapter. Keep this in mind, someone had to move drunk and puking Tony from the table where he passed out, to the couch, now who do you reckon got that totally disgusting job? If that doesn't do it for you, I doubt this chapter will help your opinions of her much.**

* * *

Tony's words reverberated through her mind, as a hundred different answers came to her. Ziva said nothing. She stood there, still being held by the arm, still just an inch away from his chest.

'Come on Ziva.' Tony insisted, Ziva looked away from his chest and up at his face. That was infinitely harder.

'You... do stupid things, take stupid risks, and I hate it.' Ziva began, trying to word her thoughts in a way that did not make her sound insane, or scare her commitment averse partner too much. Was he really ready for her to tell him that he was her great white hope for the future? She'd suffered greatly at the hands of people she trusted and loved, they had betrayed her repeatedly, and then she'd lost them. But when Ziva met his eyes, she realised that he already knew that. Which left her wondering what it is he wanted to hear from her?

'I-' Tony began, but Ziva shook her head.

'I cannot tell you how important your life is to me.' Ziva told him. 'I need you safe Tony.'

'Zi-' again Ziva cut him off.

'No, I am still angry at you.' Ziva told him. 'Do you want some food? I am going to buy some food.' She collected the car keys from the kitchen bench and marched out of the room, leaving Tony feeling worse than before.

* * *

It was dark by the time Tony heard Ziva's car pull up outside the shack. He jumped up from the couch, abandoning the game of solitaire he'd been playing due to the criminal absence of a TV in the house. He was waiting at the door for her, she stopped in front of him, holding a bag of food in front of her.

'Tony.' Said Ziva in a cool tone.

'Ziva.' Tony replied in the same tone automatically. Before he remembered that the woman before him was an angry ninja, and that jokes really weren't appropriate. 'I'm sorry, you were right, I was an idiot.'

'Gibbs has a rule about that.' Ziva said as she pushed past him with the food, he caught a whiff of something incredible.

'Did he tell you that there is an exception for the important people?' Tony asked her. 'I'm not talking about President of the United States important. Or maybe the President is included in that, I don't know.'

'Hmm, no, he did not.' Ziva replied as she began to pull out food containers, Tony resisted the urge to go for the food and work on Ziva later.

'Well, you're an important person to me Ziva.' Tony continued, tearing his eyes away from the food. 'I feel like shit for doing that, because I promised myself that I would do better by you.'

'When did you make this promise? Before or after the Hutton case?' Ziva enquired in a bitter tone.

'Before.' Tony replied. 'But what does that have to do with anything?'

'Do I have to spell it out for you, Tony?' Ziva replied.

'Apparently.' Ziva slammed down a bottle of water on the bench and turned to face him.

'Until the Hutton case, I mistakenly thought that we trusted each other fully. But you cut me out, and I did not like it. And now, you go to Mexico for Vance and tell me nothing.'

'I never had a chance to tell you about Mexico.' Tony argued back.

'And what about Dana Hutton?' Ziva retorted, Tony let out a short laugh.

'Come on, you don't think that would have been weird? Me talking to you about Dana?' silence fell in the kitchen, as the partners eyed each other.

'Why would it be weird, Tony? We are friends and partners, things like that are what friends and partners discuss, yes?' Ziva finally replied. Tony gritted his teeth, one minute he was more important to her than she could say, and the next he was just a friend and partner? He never ceased to be amazed by this woman's ability to backpedal.

'That's not what you said before.' Tony replied.

'Hm.' Ziva replied, busying herself putting stuff in the fridge. Tony had a light bulb moment.

'Were you jealous?' Tony asked her, Ziva sighed, exasperated.

'Jealous of what Tony? You met her once, and she died hours later. I had no reason to be jealous of Dana.'

'Not logically. However feelings aren't logical things, they don't work that way.' Tony pressed, Ziva subtly bit at her lip, but to Tony, who spent countless office hours watching her expressions, it was stunningly obvious he'd hit the mark.

'It is I who is mad at you, so why are you interrogating me anyway?' Ziva asked suddenly, she shoved a container of food into his hands. 'Eat, then you will stop talking.'

'Hm, you underestimate me, I can talk and eat at the same time.' Tony replied as he pried open the container, he groaned as he inhaled the scent of the food.

'You are disgusting.' Ziva told him. She chose another container and made for the bedroom where Rivera was being kept, Tony followed after her. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched as she freed one of Rivera's hands and removed the gag so the man could eat.

'Eat your food, remain silent.' Ziva ordered Rivera, she glared at Tony indicating that she wanted him to do the same, he shrugged.

'You people are going to go to jail for this, you know?' Rivera said in between mouthfuls. 'Of course, you may not live long in jail, I have friends.'

'We know all about your sister and her friends, so shut up.' Ziva replied, she pulled out her knife and began to pick at her nails with it, Rivera must have been crazy or stupid, because he wasn't deterred.

'Why are you doing this, hey? For Gibbs? He is a murderer, a common criminal.' Ziva laughed.

'Save it, we know who really killed Merton Bell.'

'I'm not talking about Bell.' Replied Rivera.

'Hm, whatever.' Ziva replied, she walked away from Rivera and took a seat next to Tony, she left a foot of space between them to tell Tony that she was still mad at him.

'Pedro Hernandez. Ring any bells?' Rivera asked. Tony glanced at Ziva and shrugged, Ziva however was suddenly paying a lot of interest to Rivera.

'Nope.' Tony replied.

'Twenty years ago, your boss shot Hernandez with the rifle he used in the Marines.' Rivera continued. 'The cold case Miss Sciuto used for her class in Mexico was Hernandez's, she proved that Gibbs was indeed the killer.'

'That's horseshit.' Tony replied, laughing. Ziva stood up and took the food from Rivera, replacing the gag and retying the man's hands. She then dragged Tony out of the room.

'Ow! Ziva, I think took a few chest hairs with you there, what the hell?'

'What Rivera said? It is true.' Ziva said in a low voice. Tony frowned.

'What?'

'Not here.' Ziva replied, glancing at the door to the bedroom. This time she at least used Tony's arm to pull him into the lounge room. Ziva sat him down on the couch. 'Hernandez was the man accused of killing Shannon and Kelly Gibbs.' Ziva explained. 'When I did those dossiers on the team for Ari, I learnt this, it did not take much digging to find out that Hernandez may have escaped prosecution by fleeing to Mexico, but he only lived a few weeks longer, before he was killed.'

'You think Gibbs did it? That scum was telling the truth?'

'Abby's cold case was indeed on murder of Pedro Hernandez. At the time I did not know this, but McGee let his name slip as we were driving back from my citizenship ceremony. Tony, it makes a lot of things fit.' Ziva began to pace. 'Like Gibbs' behaviour after he returned from Mexico with us. He was being blackmailed.' Tony took in the last mouthful of food and shrugged.

'It's irrelevant.' He replied. 'I found a pack of cards this afternoon, you wanna play Go Fish?' Tony asked her, pulling the cards out of his pocket. Ziva stared at him.

'You have lost me.'

'It's a simple game Ziva, each of us gets seven cards, right? The object of the game is to get four cards of the same kind-'

'No, how is Gibbs being blackmailed irrelevant?'

'Oh that? Well for starters, we have no extradition treaty with Mexico, so they'd never be able to get him in the country in order to prosecute him anyway. Besides, Gibbs would be useless to the Cartel in prsion, so the last thing they'd want to do is put him away.' Tony explained. 'This explains why the cartel needed Jackson Gibbs, for real blackmail power.'

'I think that I will never understand you.' Ziva shook her head and sat on the couch next to Tony.

'Yeah? Why's that?'

'Gibbs kills a man, and you do not care.' Tony didn't answer, he was concentrating on dealing the cards for a game of Go Fish.

'It's not that I don't care. I empathise.' Tony explained. 'He's not the only one who has been prepared to risk it all for vengeance, is he?' Ziva half smiled.

'No, he is not.'

'Okay, so back to Go Fish...'


	8. Chapter 8

Abby walked into her lab, her mouth securely attached to a straw protruding from a can of Red Bull, her substitute when the Caff-Pow machine broke. She wandered around her lab absentmindedly flicking switches, things hummed to life as she switched on the music. There was a moan from the back half of the lab, unheard by Abby.

'Turn it off.' McGee mumbled from her futon, rolling away from the light, he'd only made it back to the Navy Yard at 0500 that morning, he was not prepared to face people just yet.

Several minutes passed before Abby finally noticed McGee hidden away in the far corner of her lab, she dropped her can of red bull, spilling the remains of the sticky energy drink everywhere, thankfully the can was close to empty anyway. 'Timothy McGee, what the hell are you doing down there?' she shouted, McGee rolled over and stared at her shoes through bleary, sleep deprived eyes.

'If you're thinking about killing me for sneaking into your lab, go ahead, I won't mind.'

'Jeez Tim, what's up with you? What happened in Stillwater?' asked Abby.

'In Stillwater? Nothing.' McGee replied. 'The ride back was pretty eventful though.' He then recounted the story of Gibbs leaving him on the side of the road, before going on to explain how he'd hitch hiked his way to Philadelphia with a female truckie with tatts absolutely everywhere, who kept hinting about a possible threesome with her sister, who was getting out on parole in a week's time. From Philadelphia he'd made his way to the local Naval Air Station and hitched a ride to the Navy Yard, by then he'd been too tired to go home, so he'd just crashed in the lab.

'Why the hell would Gibbs do that?' Abby wondered out loud.

'I think he's gone to Mexico.' McGee replied in a tired voice. 'I mean, he's not exactly the kind of guy who's going to sit on the sidelines, especially when they have someone he cares about.' It was an indication of how tired McGee was, that he was able to talk about his boss having feelings so candidly, he was usually so in awe of the man that he couldn't process the thought that he had emotions and weaknesses. Abby sighed.

'Get some sleep Tim, you're probably going to need it.'

* * *

Twenty years ago, Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs hired a truck, and drove south into Mexico. He found it unbelievably easy to sneak into the country with his rifle and other odds and ends. Because really, what kind of person ever has a need to illegally enter Mexico?

In the present day, suspended Special Agent Gibbs hired another truck out of San Diego and made the same drive, same result. Hours later, he found himself on another hill peering through his sights at an extravagant mansion, the same white horse doing circle work on the pristine grass. He did a quick count, half a dozen armed men in plain sight, he imagined that if he looked closer, he'd find half a dozen more. And this was just outside the house, there was no telling how many were inside.

He'd let his emotions carry him this far, but faced with the cold reality of the situation, Gibbs had to finally accept that this was a situation he could not resolve himself. He was going to need help, it was fortunate that he knew where he could find some at short notice.


	9. Chapter 9

**This is a big feelings chapter, interspersed with my attempts at hot sexual tension. For those who are into this story for the action and stuff, that will come, I'm currently writing a big showdown chapter, it's epic and requires a lot of bullets, but I still have a few chapters for you guys before we get there. I'm guessing this will be about fifteen chapters all up.**

* * *

Tony's back forced him awake at what he guessed was six in the morning. He sighed in a resigned fashion, he knew better than to fall asleep on couches. Tony made to sit up, only then noticing the head of dark curly hair on his shoulder, and the arm splayed across his waist.

Tony ignored his back as he raised a hand to touch her hair. When her snoring continued unabated, he got more adventurous, dipping his fingers in, twirling it around his fingers, wondering at the way her hair could be so soft, and yet hold the curls. Gently, so as not to wake her, he pulled one of the hairs straight, and watched it bounce back to its curly form. He grinned and made to repeat the action, when she moaned into his shoulder.

'Do that again, and I will break your fingers.' Ziva mumbled.

'Good morning to you too.' Replied Tony. Ziva lifted her head to rest her chin on his shoulder, from that angle she could clearly see his stubble poking through, she resisted the urge to reach out and feel its prickly length.

'So, we need to clear your name, expose Rivera, and save Jackson Gibbs.' Ziva thought out loud.

'Not even MacGyver got this ridiculous.' Tony groaned.

'I do not know a MacGyver.' Ziva replied, shifting out from in between Tony and the back of the couch. She instead found herself half on top of Tony, who didn't seem to mind, judging by his heart rate and the pressure against Ziva's thigh, which had somehow found itself in between his.

'That's a good thing, because when it comes to really absurd stuff, MacGyver takes the cake. And really eighties fashion should be a crime. The hair...' Tony rambled, Ziva was basically on top of him, staring at his lips with a look that garnered a very physical reaction from the Very Special Agent, one he was trying to suppress.

'Tony,' Ziva began, she caught Tony's eye, he was left in no doubt about what was on her mind, his resistance was crumbling.

'Uh, so back to the situation at hand.' Tony continued in a voice so high that he wondered of he'd reverted back to his pre pubescent self in the face of the uber hotness that was his partner. His hand drifted from her hair to the small of her back, he was pleasantly surprised to find that her top had slipped up during the night, the feel of her skin was very bad for his concentration, the satisfied little noise Ziva made in response was even worse. 'I got nothing.' Tony admitted.

'No.' Ziva lightly dragged the hand that had been at his waist up to his chest, where she drew little circles with her finger. Ziva had to remind herself of where she was, and the danger they were in. 'We need to prove Rivera's guilt for a start, getting the Mexicans off your back will make things easier. But I have no idea how we would build a case against him that would hold up in a court.'

'Yeah.' Tony replied, Ziva knew from his tone that he wasn't listening to a word she was saying. Ziva looked up from the circles she'd been making on his gaudy shirt to his face, shifting forward so she could meet his eye.

'Tony.' Her voice was a soft caress, and she was smiling down at him, she knew where Tony's thoughts were. Ziva wasn't going to deny that she loved it, a lot. He saw it and grinned, propping himself up on one elbow to close the gap.

'Comfy there?' he asked in a light tone, Ziva raised an eyebrow.

'I can move, if you would like?' just to confuse him, she delivered that line in a polite and enquiring tone, all whilst wearing a smirk and shifting one of her legs against his nether regions, the friction was very, very good. Tony realised that he was being played with, in a way that he enjoyed much more than the time Gibbs and Vance had used them as bait in their mole hunt.

'No, by all means, use me as your human cushion. I'm at your service.' His line made Ziva grin. He watched her as she stared into his eyes, he could almost see the cogs turning in her mind, the smile disappeared, replaced by a nervously apprehensive facade. He wanted to tell her not to worry, he might have been out of practice, but some things are just like riding a bike... sort of.

'I was jealous of Dana.' Ziva admitted. 'Ever since you saved me, you have been wonderful to me, better than I probably deserved. I suppose I just... grew used to your attention. So when I no longer had it, I missed it.'

'You know how McGeek likes to drool over that desktop of Princess Leia he has at his home?' Tony asked, neither of them could help smirking at the memory of the one time they'd seen it, and the subsequent shade of magenta that McGee adopted for the rest of the night as they relentlessly mocked him for it. 'Well Dana was my Princess Leia. I'd come home at some stupid hour, fried from work, and watch her show. I never fought with her over anything, no disagreements, and certainly no fights to the death with her boyfriend.'

'You still hold that against me?' Ziva asked, wondering how she'd possibly been so blind as to not see that before.

'No I don't. I'm over all that stuff, it's ancient history.' Tony said forcefully. 'Look, I'm trying to be open with you, but it's not exactly coming out how I planned. Just bear with me.'

'Fine, Tony.'

'Compared to us, Dana was effortless.' Tony continued. 'She was an escape. But that really only lasted as long as she stayed on the TV and out of real life. Meeting her kind of ruined it for me.'

'Was she not what you imagined?' Ziva asked in a soft voice, Tony let out a hollow laugh.

'Nope, she was the same person I watched on TV, and I liked her just as much in real life.' Tony replied bitterly. 'Only, it was tragically one sided.' Ziva sighed, forgetting her jealousy to share in her friend's pain.

'She turned you down?'

'I didn't even try hitting on her. I mean, all I did was put a hand on her shoulder, and she was all like, eww gross. So yeah, kinda nipped my fantasies in the bud.' As Tony spoke, he could feel the rejection all over again, like it had been five minutes ago.

'You're not gross, and she is a silly woman. Perhaps dying made her delusional.' Ziva reasoned, Tony smiled, because even if it was mildly insensitive of her to call a dead woman silly and delusional, he still appreciated her support.

'Well, I realised later on after a few beers that even if she'd still been alive and interested, nothing would have come of it anyway.'

'And why is that?' Ziva found it hard to be pleased with the thought, listening to Tony talk about Dana was proving very difficult for her to do without walking out on him.

'It's because of you, Ziva.' Tony explained. 'I mean, we've fought so hard, together and against each other at times, to get this far. I'm not giving up now, or any time soon.'

Ziva took in a deep breath, if she wanted to (she was divided on this issue), Tony's words could almost be interpreted as some sort of commitment. 'Well. We should get up, do some work, clear your name, yet again.' Ziva stood and took a moment to straighten her clothes, however she still looked like she'd just enjoyed a heavy make out session on the couch. Which they easily could have, Tony decided, if they hadn't started talking about feelings.

'If I just put my foot in it and said something stupid to drive you away again, can you save me some angst and tell me now?' Tony half begged her, Ziva shook her head.

'No. But clearing your name takes priority over sorting us out.'

'So I didn't screw it up?' Tony guessed. Ziva smirked and placed one hand on the armrest by his head, the other one splayed over his chest as she leant forward.

'Not yet.' Was her reply, before she pressed a quick kiss to his lips, Tony stared as she sashayed out of the room. Then he grinned and made to stand up himself, he made a sudden and awful realisation that ignoring his back pain in lieu of physical contact with Ziva was a bad idea. He promptly collapsed on the floor in between the couch and the coffee table, unable to move.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi, from the number of reviews, I'm guessing people liked the last chapter. Just a disclaimer, I'm not a med student, I'm a History major, so I know squat about back problems. For the sake of the story, Tony's back didn't enjoy the couch the previous night, it's really painful and he can't move much, if at all. I apologise if something is incorrect with what I've said here, I usually don't like to take creative licence with stuff that's supposed to sound real. I can however tell you that the stuff about horse tranqulisers in this chapter is accurate, I read an article about it. With that little teaser, I invite you to enjoy, and keep up the reviews.**

* * *

Ziva showered quickly, cursing her new found need to talk about stuff, particularly feelings. She was fairly certain that if she'd kept her opinions to herself, she'd be having a much better morning than she could have hoped for. Instead, she was left with a whole lot of Tony's typically confusing and contradicting psychobabble. Hearing him talk about Dana had been particularly painful, she regretted ever mentioning the woman.

'Tony, you can take a shower now. I stopped by your hotel room and picked up your stuff, it is in the boot of the car.' Ziva said in a brisk voice as she entered the kitchen to put on some coffee.

'Sounds nice.' Tony mumbled in a small voice, Ziva frowned and peered over the breakfast bar at her partner, hunched up on the floor.

'What are you doing down there Tony?'

'Wishing that the ground would open up and swallow me whole, if you must know.' Tony replied, it hit Ziva and she groaned at her own stupidity.

'Your back?' she asked, Tony made a noise that she translated to mean yes. 'Okay, just wait there for a minute.' She told him, Tony nodded.

'I've seen this movie before.' Tony mumbled to himself as Ziva left the room again. 'Oh god, Ziva was right, they are going to be my dying words.'

Ziva entered the bedroom where Rivera was still secured and released him from the chair, she placed her gun against his back and guided him into the bathroom, the window was high up and only a foot tall, he wouldn't be slipping through that. 'Here, you have thirty minutes.' Ziva told him. 'If you try to escape, I will remove one of your thumbs. Are you left or right handed?'

'Uh, left?' Rivera replied, Ziva smirked and looked at his hands.

'I will take your right thumb, and your left pinkie for lying to me. If you so much as try and open that window, I will know.' Ziva told him. She locked him in the bathroom, and for good measure, used a chair to jam the door handle in place.

'Tony, can you walk?' Ziva asked, Tony opened his eyes blearily, coming face to face with Ziva, who was kneeling in front of him, looking worried.

'Maybe, it's pretty bad.' Tony replied.

'You are too big for me to carry, so you will need to walk.'

'I wouldn't want you carrying me anyway, too weird.' Tony replied, Ziva grinned.

'If you can get your hairy butt to the bed, I will give you a massage, and maybe some horse tranquilisers.'

'Well as fitting as horse tranquilisers might be, given that I'm hung like one, I vote for just the massage.' Tony replied, then he did a double take. 'Why the hell would you have horse tranquilisers?'

'One of my first missions, my partner was seriously injured. We stemmed the bleeding, but he was in a lot of pain, and we had a six hour drive to escape the area. So I used horse tranquilisers on him, and he managed fine. However it is a dangerous practice, too much, and it is fatal.' Ziva explained.

'I can walk.' Tony decided. Ziva and Tony slowly managed to get him to his feet, however he appeared to be doing his best to imitate the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with the way he wouldn't straighten up. Instead he had his arms wrapped around Ziva's middle as she led him into the bedroom. She got him onto the bed and began to unbutton his shirt, which garnered a rueful smile from Tony.

'What?' Ziva asked Tony, noticing his expression.

'Oh, I just imagined that the first time you took my clothes off in a bedroom, I'd enjoy it a lot more.' Tony replied, making Ziva grin as she got him onto his stomach.

'Who says this cannot still be fun, Tony?' Ziva murmured as one of her hands slipped underneath him to reach for his belt buckle. Tony wondered what wonderful dreamland he'd just entered, it seemed too good to be true.

'Wouldn't that work better if I was on my back?' Tony asked as she removed first his belt, then unzipped his jeans.

'Not with Rivera in the house Tony.' Ziva told him. 'Your pants ride too high, they will get in the way of your massage.' To demonstrate her point, she only pulled his jeans and boxers down a few inches, so the top of his ass was showing. The next thing Tony knew, Ziva was sitting on the back of his thighs, and something cold was on his back, making him twitch, which hurt.

'What's that stuff?'

'My body lotion.' Ziva replied. 'It will have to do, I have no real massage oils.'

'I like it.' Tony replied.

'Hmm.' Ziva replied as she began, eliciting a happy moan from Tony as she worked her way along his back. 'I am going to need more body lotion, your hair is getting in the way.' She told him at one point.

'You know, some women think my body hair is sexy.' Tony replied, defensive.

'Who are these women? Monkeys?'

'One of them was runner up Miss Virginia, she was three points away from competing in the Miss United States competition.' Tony retorted.

'How long ago was that?'

'Maybe nine years.' Tony muttered.

'Well since then you have grown more hair, so that does not count.' Ziva told him.

'Does too.' Tony replied in what Ziva called his kindergarten boy voice, he seemed to adopt it most often when squabbling with McGee.

'Quiet Tony, I need you to relax while I do this.' Ziva ordered.

'When did you have time to learn this stuff anyway?'

'It was an undercover operation.' Ziva replied.

'What a shocker.' Tony retorted, Ziva got him back by pinching his side. 'Hey! Ow! Did the ninja just pinch me? You're losing your touch.'

'If you keep talking, I will give you the tranquilisers.' Ziva instructed Tony, who mumbled something under his breath about human rights and revoking citizenships, before he fell silent and began to properly enjoy Ziva's ministrations.

By the time Ziva finished, Tony was dozing quietly. She patted his hair and closed the door behind her.

Ziva turned her attention to the bathroom. As she removed the chair from the under the door handle, she reminded herself of the layout of the bathroom, the sink was located to the left, and the toilet to the right, behind the door. Next to the toilet was a basket with a few newspapers and a couple of old copies of Sniper Monthly, the bath and shower head were located at the far end. If it was her, she'd use the ceramic cover of the toilet's cistern as a weapon, and probably locate herself near the toilet, so she could get in a good swing at the person entering before they noticed her weapon. Of course, Rivera was not her, as far as she knew, he was your garden variety corrupt government official, the fact that his sister was a drug lord probably expedited the process of his corruption. The point being, he was not a fighter, however Ziva had found a renewed interest in life of late, she wasn't about to screw that up by underestimating Rivera.

Ziva pulled out her gun and opened the door, letting it swing open, she then ducked back outside into the hall. Moments later a confused Rivera appeared, holding the cover to the toilet cistern. Ziva decked Rivera and cuffed him once again.

'Now, what were you going to do with this?' Ziva wondered out loud, picking up the cistern lid. Rivera mumbled something rude in Spanish, Ziva rolled her eyes and put the toilet back together.

* * *

Gibbs wasn't surprised to see the car outside of his shack. He had a pretty good feeling he knew whose car it was, but to be safe, he shouldered his rifle and pulled out his handgun as he made a covert approach towards the lonely building.

Gibbs entered through the laundry door at the rear, here he found Rivera, bound, gagged and secured to a chair. He glared up at Gibbs, who paid him no heed as he continued into the house. His first stop was the bathroom, which showed signs of recent use. As he came upon the bedroom, Gibbs stopped and stared for a full minute at the sight of DiNozzo, with half his ass hanging out, snoring like a freight train. He shook his head and closed the door, praying that Ziva hadn't touched his bourbon as well, it was going to take some serious work to get that image out of his head.

He found Ziva sitting at the breakfast bar with a map of the local town in front of her. He holstered his gun as she met his eyes.

'Gibbs.' Her tone was cool, almost icy.

'David.' He replied in much the same vein.


	11. Chapter 11

**I know, it's been a while since I posted, but this chapter was tricky. Specifically the Gibbs/Ziva bits. If anyone thinks that they made up too quickly, sorry, but I don't have the fortitude to continue that part much longer. Please leave your thoughts, the next chapter is the epic show down, or the first half anyway. You're going to want to encourage me to post that ASAP ;)**

* * *

'I thought you were suspended from active duty.' Ziva replied, eyeing his grubby appearance and the rifle on his back. That rifle never failed to remind her of one rainy night in a basement. Now, she knew it also to be the very tool that triggered this chain of events.

'Pretty sure Vance never gave you orders to come to Mexico. Doubt the ink is even dry on your new passport application.' Gibbs retorted.

'Well, I owe Tony, he saved me in Somalia.' Ziva replied.

'Do we have a problem, David?' Gibbs demanded as he laid his rifle down on the kitchen bench.

'Yes.' Ziva snapped, turning her whole body towards her boss. 'Rivera and Franks have filled in a few blanks for me since I arrived here. We are your team, why were you not honest with us?'

'Bit hypocritical of you David.' Ziva didn't know if she was more taken aback by his words or the angry tone he used to say them. Gibbs frowned, realising his mistake.

'I suppose I am a hypocrite.' Ziva replied. 'But does that mean I cannot call you out for the same mistake?'

'I guess.' Gibbs ran a hand though his hair, sighing regretfully. 'I screwed up David, I'm sorry.'

'Forgiven.' Ziva told him, Gibbs half smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze.

'Citizenship has really improved your idioms, I see.' Gibbs remarked, changing the subject.

'Tony is rubbing off on you, he is normally the only one who sees fit to comment on my use of the English language.' retorted Ziva in a dry tone.

'These things happen with prolonged exposure.'

'I sincerely hope not, I would then drive myself insane.'

Gibbs almost smiled, Ziva had come a long way in the last twelve months.

'So do you have that map out for a reason?'

'Yes, actually.' Ziva turned back to the map, tracing her finger along random streets. 'Trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.'

'Any ideas?'

'I suppose.' Ziva replied. 'I think that building a case against Rivera is not our priority here, we should be concentrating on proving his link to the Reynosa cartel.' Gibbs didn't say anything, Ziva didn't take it personally. 'We call the cartel, negotiate to trade your father for Rivera in a place of our choosing, which we bug with cameras and microphones. When Paloma shows up to claim her brother, we will have them both confirming their kinship for the Mexicans to see.'

'That doesn't explain how we're going to get my father back.'

'No, and I doubt we will walk away from a meeting with Reynosa alive, there are too many of them. It is not much of a plan.' Ziva admitted.

'Guess you didn't consider waking up DiNozzo so he could help out?' Ziva glanced sideways at Gibbs, trying to gauge what the boss was thinking.

'He hurt his back, sleeping on the couch last night.' Ziva replied, she made an executive decision to not tell their boss that she was on the couch with Tony.

'I've heard that one before.' Ziva grimaced at the map, she'd been hoping Gibbs wouldn't call them out until Tony was awake, then he would babble his head off, draw the boss's ire, and she could get away relatively unscathed.

'Really?'

'Don't play coy with me, David.' Replied Gibbs, as his phone began to ring, saving Ziva from having to think of a witty reply. He checked the caller ID, Abby. 'Back in a second.' He murmured as he stepped outside to take the call. Ziva slipped off the stool and moved into the bedroom silently, Tony was still dead to the world.

'Tony, get up.' Tony just groaned and rolled so his back was facing her. Ziva swore at his back and used what he liked to call her Vulcan death grip, but really was just a simple manoeuvre where she pinched at a nerve in his shoulder.

'Ow! Argh, no! Stop!' Tony came to life, wriggling out of her grip as he sat up. 'Not nice.' He told her, rubbing his shoulder.

'Stand up.' She told him, this time Tony obeyed, Ziva zipped up his jeans for him, it would take too long to get him to do it himself, Tony leered.

'Pretty sure you're doing it wrong sweetcheeks, you're meant to unzip the pants. Doesn't work as well when I have them on.' Ziva looked up at him as she started on his belt, he stopped leering when it became obvious that Ziva wasn't in a flirting mood.

'Gibbs is here Tony, and he already suspects something.'

'Damn, why couldn't you have just let me sleep?' Tony whined.

'Because if I have to see the music, so do you.'

'It's face the music. Citizenship hasn't done much for your vocabulary, has it?' Tony remarked.

'Shut up, and put a shirt on already.'

'Sick of the view?' Tony enquired, Ziva smirked and ran a hand over his chest and down to his stomach muscles, stopping well above his jeans, because she wasn't sure if she could stop there, or if she would be compelled to continue.

'No. But I doubt Gibbs appreciates your aesthetic qualities like I do.' She replied in a low voice, this time it was Tony's turn to smile.

'If the lady insists.'

'I suppose I do.'

'You suppose?'

'Yes, I suppose that I can see your body later, but only if Gibbs does not kill you. So you should put a shirt on now.'

'I hate your infallible logic.' Tony replied as he reached for his shirt, Ziva laughed.

When Gibbs entered the shack again after being chewed out by Abby for dumping McGee, he found Tony sitting on the stool next to Ziva, who was explaining her rather average plan.

'It is not very good, has a few holes.' Ziva concluded.

'That's why you need my inspired genius to help out.' Tony replied.

'Oh? What does the inspired genius have to say then?'

'Have McGenius send a live feed of the trade off to the Mexicans, if we find a place that's far enough away from the closest police establishment, we can calculate it so that the Mexican cops arrive during the trade off, before the cartel decides to kill me, but after one of them has incriminated themselves. Then we don't have to worry about having enough firepower, because the Mexicans will give us that.'

'Problem is, Rivera could get away with this, all he has to do is say that you and Franks were hired by the cartel to take him, and he walks free. You are still in trouble.'

'To do that he'd have to incriminate his sister.' Tony replied. 'If she doesn't kill him for it, I imagine she'll rat on him back.'

'Okay, so what movie did this come from?'

'Movie? It's actually a reworking of how I busted the mafia boss in Baltimore. Did I tell you they gave me a medal for that one?'

'No, you must show me your adult version of a gold star sometime.' Ziva smirked at the look on Tony's face, he didn't know whether he was more surprised by her idioms or the fact that she was teasing him.

'Gold star? Sweetcheeks, in America, we don't mock these things.'

'Really? Then why does Gibbs never show up to collect his gold stars?'

'Because Gibbs is Gibbs.' Tony replied.

'Standing right here, ya know.' The pair glanced over at their boss and sat back from each other.

'Ziva was just-'

'I heard it all DiNozzo.' Gibbs replied. 'So do we have a plan?'

'Sort of. We're going to need McGee. And Franks too, only I don't know how we're supposed to contact him.' explained Tony.

'Don't worry about that.' Gibbs said, 'I'm going to make some calls, if you two are done with the grabass, find us a meeting place.' Gibbs left again, the door slamming shut behind him.

Tony winced. 'I'm so dead when this is over.'


	12. Chapter 12

**This was one chapter, but it was a bit long, so it has been split. Cheers to my beta for all her excellent assistance and nice words, my ego thanks you.**

* * *

Things happened quickly after the team came up with their plan. Tony and Ziva found a parking lot behind a warehouse that was no longer in use. Gibbs and Ziva were to be Tony's cover, situated on top of opposing buildings, with silenced sniper rifles.

McGee arrived that evening, Ziva drove him out to the site so he could set the cameras up, while Tony made the call to the Reynosa Cartel, setting up a meet for noon the following day. Franks arrived at the last minute, he spent the night sitting outside, smoking one cigarette after another.

Inside, things were much more interesting. Gibbs took the bedroom, because it was his house after all. Tony and McGee gave Ziva the couch, however they had to fight her over it, she eventually relented. McGee used some spare blankets and towels to try get comfortable on the floor, Tony decided that since he'd probably need to walk tomorrow, he'd just sit at the table.

Ziva woke up him up, handing him a cup of coffee, there was no milk and no sugar, but now that he knew this to be Gibbs place, he was not surprised. 'Guess this is it.' Tony remarked as Ziva sat in the chair next to his. 'I can list a hundred ways this can go wrong.'

'You will find that is common in these kinds of high stakes situations, Tony.' Ziva had her own mug, Tony noticed that it was some kind of tea, he wondered if he'd have preferred that to Gibbs idea of coffee, he was quite certain that the stuff would keep him awake for the next week.

'I vote we change the subject.'

'What did you have in mind?'

'Do you mean, what do I think we should talk about, or what I'm thinking about right this second? Cos they're different things.'

'What do you want to talk about?'

'Uh, the weather, that's a safe subject.' Tony replied, Ziva raised an eyebrow.

'What are you thinking about right now?' Ziva asked in a lower voice, Tony took a second to look around, there was no one else in the room.

'What I'm going to do to you when this mess is sorted.' Tony replied in the same low voice. Ziva bit her bottom lip, she'd spent a good portion of the night thinking along those same lines. If the shack wasn't so tiny, she'd have dragged Tony away to a private corner by now to take the edge off.

'I am intrigued.'

'I am intrigued that you are intrigued.' Tony replied with a grin, they exchanged a long, silent look. Tony looked down at his coffee and smirked suddenly, 'I have a friend who owns a restaurant, he's devout catholic and refuses to give me a table for most of my dates, he says he does not like to encourage my bad behaviour.'

'I like this man already.'

'He's going to be very happy when I tell him I have a date who is worthy of eating his food.' Tony continued, he looked up from his coffee and met her eyes.

'Tony, I don't want nor need you to blow your money on things like that. It does not matter to me.'

'I figured any girl who is happy to wear the same set of clothes this long would be like that. I don't just do this kind of thing because it gets me laid, I do it because I enjoy it myself. Call it a symptom of being a Frank Sinatra fan, you deserve to be treated like a princess.'

Ziva watched Tony, if there was one thing she loathed, it would have to be the idea of being treated like a princess. Only it was painfully obvious from the begging look in his eyes that Tony wasn't doing this for the usual sexist male reasons. As she considered it further, that kind of treatment from Tony didn't seem half bad, of course, it would probably come with a running commentary about princesses in film, Ziva's lips curled into a smile. 'If you insist.'

'I also like you in dresses, you're less scary in a dress.' Tony laughed at the look Ziva gave him.

* * *

Tony stood alone in the middle of the parking lot, waiting for the cartel. The place already had the look of a battlefield, with a handful of burnt out car wrecks strewn around, as well as a number of barrels that the homeless probably used for warmth at night, however they'd apparently found somewhere better to be at that moment, which was lucky for them.

The Reynosa Cartel appeared in the form of a convoy of black Chevy Suburbans, within seconds Tony found himself surrounded by men armed with the latest and greatest in US military weaponry, clearly the services of Jason Paul Dean was not the only thing Paloma had acquired from First Defence PMC. Tony was pretty sure that the absence of her brother was the only reason he was still breathing, he sincerely hoped the Mexican authorities would be quick on the uptake.

'Where is Rivera?' Paloma demanded in English.

'Where's Jackson Gibbs?' Tony replied in an assertive tone. Paloma nodded her head towards one of the cars. 'Mike Franks has your brother, he's pretty pissed at him right now. I imagine if they're left alone long enough, you'll be getting your brother back in pieces small enough to fit into a matchbox. Produce Jackson Gibbs, alive and unharmed.' Tony ordered, Paloma nodded at two of her men, who shouldered their weapons and took Jackson Gibbs out of the car. Tony released the breath he'd been holding, as he watched the older man walk forward, directed by his guards to stand next to Paloma Reynosa. Paloma calmly pulled out her own gun and pressed the muzzle to the temple of Gibbs senior.

'Hey there, Tony.' Jackson called, surprised and happy, Tony could see the older man was not dealing well with captivity, his face was very pale and the bags under his eyes were more pronounced, but he was more or less unharmed.

'My turn. If I do not see my brother in the next minute, I will shoot first this man, and then you.' Tony gritted his teeth as he made the phone call. Franks careened around the corner seconds later, several Reynosa men had to jump out of his way to avoid being hit. Everyone watched as Franks exited the car, he took his time, first dropping his cigarette and grinding it out with his heel, before he made his way to the boot. Franks pulled out Rivera's gag as he walked him forward, the muzzle of his gun pressed against the Mexican's neck.

'How are you doing?' Paloma asked her brother in Spanish, Rivera gritted his teeth at the feel of Franks gun against his neck.

'I will be better soon.' He replied.

'Hate to break up the love in, but can we get on with it?' Tony asked them both in Spanish.

Paloma turned to DiNozzo, smirking. 'You are eager to die then?'

'Ah. You think that that because Franks and I are outnumbered ten to one, you have this fight won?' Tony asked, Rivera glanced around, growing nervous, something his sister did not share. 'I brought back up.'

'You are not a very good poker player DiNozzo, release my brother.'

'You release Jackson Gibbs first.' Tony ordered.

'Fine, none of you are walking away from this place alive anyway.' Paloma lowered her gun and ordered Jackson to walk forward. Tony grabbed Jackson by the forearm, apparently this action was a bit too much for one of the Reynosa men, because suddenly Tony had the muzzle of a P90 in his face, not a position he really wanted to be in.

Less than half a second later though, the man dropped to the ground, as a fine red mist coated Tony and Jackson from the hole in the man's head, Tony knew from the angle that Ziva was the one who made the shot. The Mexicans immediately turned their attention outwards, they were not so quick to figure out where the shot came from.

'Sniper? Must be the other Gibbs.' Paloma deduced in an annoyed voice, before ordering half a dozen men to go search the building where the shot came from. Tony tried not to worry, Ziva was more than able to cope with the situation at hand.

Conveniently for him, a distraction arrived, in the form of the Mexican police, whose combination of police cars and big army trucks streamed into the parking lot, surrounding the area. Guns and men appeared from everywhere, Paloma realised she'd been played and aimed a shot at Tony. This time it was Gibbs who shot her down, not fatally though, a shot to her upper arm. Her men misunderstood and opened fire on the police, who in turn opened fire on them. Tony and Franks helped Jackson into the back of the car as the air filled with bullets. Somehow they all made it unharmed into the car, which was beginning to resemble a colander. Franks didn't waste time, gunning the car in the direction of Gibbs building. Paloma noticed and managed to call a handful of her guys back to her car, they set off in hot pursuit as the rest of the cartel engaged with la Policia.

Franks pulled to a stop outside the first building, Gibbs and McGee ran outside. McGee had been holed up with his computer on the first floor, as soon as the Mexicans came into sight he'd dumped his computer and made his way to the rendezvous point. McGee piled into the back seat as Gibbs sat up front with his mentor. He took a moment to look back at his father, reassuring himself that the man was okay.

'You did good, DiNozzo.' Gibbs told him as they made their way to Ziva's building.

'Thanks boss.' Tony replied, he didn't get to bask in the glow of Gibbs approval for long, Franks stopped outside Ziva's building and she appeared, coated in dust and what Tony really hoped wasn't her blood. He opened up her door to let her in as Paloma's car caught up, her men unleashing their fire on the car. McGee and Jackson ducked as Ziva dived into the back seat, Franks gunned the engine again and they were off.

McGee turned in his seat and began to fire through the shattered back window, Gibbs was hanging out of his front seat with his rifle. But Tony didn't notice, because Ziva had twisted around, she was now straddling him as she fired out the back seat. He'd have found it really hot, if the sound of her gun next to his ear wasn't threatening to send him deaf. Franks took a corner fast, throwing Ziva off balance. Tony found his face pressed into her breasts Ziva grunted painfully, as his hands automatically went around her waist to hold her steady. Tony noticed that her black top was soaked with something. He gave a sniff, the taint of blood unmistakeable.


	13. Chapter 13

**Without further ado, my favourite chapter so far**

* * *

Ziva sat back and continued to fire as he searched for the source. He noticed that her right shoulder seemed the dampest. 'Ziva, you've been shot.' He announced, she rolled her eyes and gave him a look.

'Really, DiNozzo?' She replied as she put a fresh clip in her gun. Tony growled at her stubborn attitude.

'Get down and let me stop the bleeding.'

'With what?' Tony gritted his teeth, Ziva continued shooting at the Reynosa car, which had dropped back. Ziva noticed that Tony was moving beneath her and glanced down to see him working on the buttons of his shirt.

'What? Are you going to run around Mexico with no shirt on now?' Ziva asked him, exasperated.

'As opposed to you running around with an open wound in your fucking shoulder? Yes!' Tony replied.

'DiNozzo!' Gibbs shouted, breaking them both out of their own little world. Gibbs reached back and handed him a first aid kit, the standard kind usually carried by front line Marines.

'Thanks boss.' Tony said, taking the kit. He pulled out the pressure bandage. 'Give McGee your SIG, he can do covering fire for a few minutes.' He instructed, she sighed and handed over her weapon, to his credit McGee didn't blink twice, as he began to fire at a steady rate at the pursuing car, preventing them from getting close enough to put any real damaging fire into their vehicle.

'It should not take that long Tony, it is not that hard.'

'Longer you keep complaining, longer it is before McGee gives your SIG back.'

'McGee would give it back now if I asked him.' They glared at each other, Tony knew that she wouldn't be nearly this difficult if there weren't four other men in the car, but he still found it supremely frustrating that she resisted his attempts to help her.

'If you weren't already injured, I'd shoot you myself right now.' Tony told her. 'Not even Gibbs is this much of a pain in the ass.'

'Hurry up Tony.' She ordered.

Tony pulled out the bandage, it was then that it occurred to him. 'I'm going to need you to take your shirt off.'

'You would like that, wouldn't you?'

'Well yeah, but I'm hardly gonna put the moves on you in a car full of people.'

'No? When exactly did you learn-' Ziva stopped talking as Gibbs slapped the back of her head.

'Don't think you're getting away clean DiNozzo, I owe you one too. Now get on with it, before I push you both out of the car.' Gibbs told them, before he turned around again to shoot at their pursuers through his passenger window. Next to them, Jackson was staring forward in a steadfast fashion, but Tony could have sworn he saw a hint of a smile. He turned back to find Ziva struggling with her shirt, only her injured shoulder was making it difficult.

'Need a hand?' Tony asked in a sweet and sarcastic tone.

'Fine, yes.' Ziva relented, she already had her uninjured arm out, he just needed to get the top over her head and the shot up shoulder.

'Oh yeah, I'm that good.' Tony said, grinning at her t shirt, he turned back to Ziva and froze. Black. Lacy. Bra. On Ziva. Ziva was wearing a lacy black bra, probably with matching panties. He wanted to take a peek, confirm his suspicions. Ziva gave him a smart whack on the side of the head.

'You done?'

'Not really.' Replied Tony, but he tore his eyes away from her chest to the shoulder, blood was smeared everywhere, in the centre, a dark little circle, Ziva was also peering down at the wound.

'It is not that bad.' She reasoned. 'Missed the collarbone and the artery.' Tony rummaged around for something to clean up the wound.

'Tony.' Gibbs called, Tony looked up as Gibbs reached back with a silver flask. Tony took the flask.

'Thanks, I could do with a drink.' Tony replied, unscrewing the cap.

'It's for the wound, DiNozzo.' Gibbs snapped. 'I owe you another head slap.'

'Sure thing boss.' Tony replied. Ziva took the flask and had a swig. 'How come you're allowed to drink it?'

'Because as you put it I have an open wound in my fucking shoulder!' Ziva shouted in an exasperated fashion, Tony almost grinned, she never swore in English.

'Excuses.' Tony soaked the cotton wool in bourbon and began to wipe the wound site clean. Ziva's face went very pale, the only outward sign of her pain was the grip she had on his shirt. Tony sighed, he liked that shirt. When he finished with the front she put her head on his shoulder and he began to clean up the back. It took him a few moments to notice that his shoulder was growing damp. Tony used his spare hand to try and innocuously rub her back. She took in a deep rattling breath but didn't move her face, it didn't escape Tony's notice that an odd silence had fallen upon the residents of the car.

'Stay put for a second.' He ordered Ziva, his lips brushing her ear, he took the moment to press a quick kiss into her hair, the only apology he could afford in the same car as angry Gibbs. It was actually harder trying to fix her pressure bandage in this position, but he figured from the wetness of his shoulder that Ziva wouldn't want to be moving anytime soon. It took Tony a while, but he eventually succeeded.

'Piece of cake.' He declared. Ziva used her good arm to feel the bandage, this was a new thing for her, to have someone in the field care enough to patch her up on the go. It was not entirely unpleasant. She looked at the dressing which was neat and precise and not at all how she expected it to be.

She rested her head back on Tony's shoulder and turned to whisper back, 'Thank you, my very own Hawkeye.'

'You are very welcome my ninja... Wait, you.. You've seen MASH yet you STILL manage to twist the American language?' Tony squawked, disbelieving.

Ziva's lips ghosted up his neck to reach his ear. 'You have no idea how... twisty... I can be Tony.'

'Bad timing.' Tony mumbled back, Ziva chuckled, rolling her eyes.

'Teenage boys have better control than you Tony.' Tony was working on a comeback when Franks slammed on the brakes, Tony peered over Ziva's shoulder, a block down the road, a truck had overturned, two other cars wrecked next to it. The traffic was stationary.

'Shit.' Tony tried to turn to take a look out back, but Ziva was in the way.

'They are getting out, gun McGee.' Ziva ordered, McGee obeyed, Tony settled back, waiting for Ziva to finish the Mexicans off, but instead of gunfire he heard the sound of the gun clicking. She swore and began to search for a fresh clip.

'They're getting closer.' McGee announced.

'Right, let me out sweetcheeks.' Tony deposited Ziva on Jackson's lap. 'McGee, you and me are going to get out, make them chase us, okay?'

'Huh?'

'Come on McGeek, I wanna see your new improved fitness levels at work.' Tony instructed. He opened up his door and jumped out, McGee caught up with him as he jumped behind a parked car, McGee was close behind as the Mexicans sprayed the car with bullets.

'Do we keep running?' McGee asked.

'Well, I wanna have sex with Ziva before I die, so yes McGee, run!' Tony shouted over the noise of the gunfire.

'You mean other than the eye sex you've been having for the last 5 years.'

'Eye sex? McGee, I'm Italian, there is only one kind of sex.'

'Well there's only one kind of dead too, the bad kind so think about that, Tony.' McGee retorted as he took advantage of a momentary lull in fire to race out from behind the car and down a side street, Tony growled and took off after him.

The Mexicans raced back to their car and took chase, but the street was too narrow to allow a car passage, so they had to take the long way around. Giving Tony and McGee a short lead, Tony had all but forgotten about the Mexicans, he was too busy trying to keep up with McGee. They reached another main street, Tony pulled McGee to a stop, breathing heavily.

'We can't outrun a car.' Tony told McGee, by "we"; he meant himself, because apparently McGee had the endurance of a Kentucky Derby racehorse, he was barely out of breath. Tony's lungs were on fire. He looked around, across the street was a bar with a number of Harleys out the front. Tony weighed up his options, death by Mexican drug dealers now, or possible death by bikers sometime in the future? 'Come on probie, you're gonna show me how to hotwire a Harley.'

'I've never hotwired a thing in my life Tony.' McGee replied as they reached the first bike. Tony shrugged and pulled out a knife that would make Croc Dundee himself proud.

'But I bet you know how, and like you said, there's only one kind of dead.' Tony handed McGee the knife, he sighed and with one swift motion, levered off the ignition device, exposing a handful of wires. He took a moment to pick with ones he wanted, before cutting them and stripping back the plastic to expose the copper strands.

'Like I said, I've never done this before, you might want to stand back.' McGee warned Tony, who did just that, casting around for their predators in the Chevy Suburban. Moments later though, the bike rumbled to life, Tony jumped on, forcing McGee to scowl and get on behind him.

'Hold on tight, and if you lean the wrong way and we come off round a corner McGee, I will kill you myself.' Tony warned him, McGee sighed and tried not to think about the fact that the wetness on Tony's shirt was Ziva's blood, or that his hands were gripping Tony's waist. For those reasons he almost fell off the back when Tony gunned the bike.

As McGee clawed his way back on, he spared a glance behind them, the Mexicans were back in view, as were a handful of the bikers, alerted by the sound of one of their bikes, more and more were appearing, running for their bikes. McGee paled, as if things weren't bad enough already.

'Tony!' McGee shouted, thumping the man's shoulder.

'What?' Tony shouted back, annoyed, it had been years since he'd last found himself on a bike, it was taking most of his concentration to keep the thing upright with McGee twisting around behind him.

'Bikers.' McGee replied, but the word was enough, Tony shot a look behind them as he took a corner.

'Fuck!'


	14. Chapter 14

**Cold, so very cold. My, it's been almost a week since I updated this. Real life is kicking my ass, a full time University schedule, plus thirty hours at work to pay off my holiday debts equals a very tired LordMaster. And my footy team lost it's third game in a row, so I'm cold, tired, and sad... sigh.**

* * *

'Okay probie, any ideas? I'm sick of coming up with the ideas.' Tony shouted as they weaved their way through traffic, effectively losing the Mexicans, leaving them with just an angry biker gang on their heels.

'Exactly, this was your idea. You get us out of it.'

'Listen McSnarky, if you ever want be a senior field agent, you gotta learn to take some responsibility in life.' Tony explained over his shoulder. 'You hotwired the bike, you're equally responsible.'

'You told me to!' McGee shouted back.

'The Nuremberg defence? McGee, that's weak.' They rounded another corner, Tony frowned and looked around. 'Hey! I know where we are.'

'Mexico?'

'We're about to drive back through the drop site, McLost, when we do, I want you to shoot at whoever is still there.' Tony instructed.

'With what? I'm out.' McGee reminded Tony.

'I'm not, grab my gun.' McGee nodded and reached around for Tony's gun, they went through a pothole and McGee's hand landed on something else entirely. Tony looked down, for a second, McGee was deadly close to being thrown into a cactus.

'Uh...' McGee mumbled as he realised what he was touching.

'How well do you type one handed, McGrabby? Because that's NOT my gun. Ziva will cut your hand off if she sees what you're doing right now.' Tony told McGee as he withdrew his hand, taking Tony's gun as he sat back up.

'Get over yourself Tony, Ziva's not that crazy about you.'

'Uh, I beg to differ... actually, I'm not telling you that. Details like that might turn you on, McInexperienced, and that's something I don't want when we're sharing a puny bike seat.'

'You said you had a plan?'

'Yep.' Tony paused to take another corner. 'We're coming up on the drop site, when we get there you're going to shoot at whoever's still alive and breathing, get them all riled up.'

'What does that achieve?'McGee asked, Tony laughed.

'Come on, it's like kicking up an ants nest, remember doing that as a kid?'

'I never kicked up an ants nest in my life Tony.'

'Right, McGreenpeace. Well, when you kick up an ants nest, they get really, really mad. If you're stupid enough to near them again, you get bit to pieces. I know because a buddy of mine bet me to run through this bull ants nest barefoot. I didn't walk for a week afterwards, which was bad timing, pre-season was starting and the coach wanted to kill me.'

'Right.'

'You shoot at the Mexicans, they get pissed, when the other bikers follow us, the Mexicans shoot at them, we're in the clear.'

'Oh, well when you put it like that, it still sounds insane. They'll just shoot us.'

'That's why you're going to wait until we're almost through the parking lot, McGenius.'

'You're really overdoing the McNicknames again.'

'I know, but I'm in hot form today, can't waste a talent like mine.'

'It's not a talent, its harassment. I could sue you.'

'Yeah? You do that, McBaby.'

'Now I see why Gibbs has to resort to physical violence.' McGee sighed. Tony grinned as they burst into the parking lot, weaving past an army truck.

McGee took a moment to absorb the chaos they'd left behind earlier.

The Suburbans were smoking wrecks, bodies were lying everywhere, the Coroner had only just arrived, his men were busy lining the bodies up like McGee had seen on TV many times before. La Policia were still standing around, looking angry and threatening, Tony elbowed him.

'Shoot!' McGee raised the gun and fired, deliberately aiming high.

It had the desired effect, the coroners dived for cover as la Policia began to fire.

The biker gang entered the square at this time, and as Tony had planned. La Policia assumed they were with Tony and McGee, and fired on them too. The bikers pulled out their own weapons, sawn off shotguns and large calibre revolvers. McGee was spared the sight of more chaos as they escaped the parking lot for a second time.

Tony found a highway and took it as a good option to get far away as quick as possible.

* * *

'Where are we going?' McGee shouted over the engine noise, his eyes half closed from the force of the wind, he didn't put too much thought into how Tony was able to see where they were going in the face of the wind. Tony had put on his sunglasses, they weren't the best protection, but they helped.

'Well, McBoy Scout, if you look around, you'll notice that we're heading in a northerly direction, north means US soil. Typically, you don't find as many Mexican cops or drug cartels in the US as you do in Mexico.'

'How are we meant to get across the border? You're still a wanted felon Tony.' Asked McGee. 'I mean, the Mexicans probably haven't cleared you yet, they're not really that efficient.'

'Probie, people enter the US illegally every day of the week, what makes you think that we can't pull it off?'

'Well, they usually know a thing or two about where the hell they're going!'

'I know where we're going, we're going north, to the United States of America. Jeez, why do you always have to make things so hard?'

'Are you sure this road leads to the US?' McGee pressed. 'I don't know about you, but I really wouldn't want to get lost out here.'

'We're not going to get lost.' Tony replied in an exasperated voice. Tony spoke too soon, moments later their highway made a sharp turn east, Tony frowned, behind him, McGee was torn between the urges to gloat or panic.

'Now what are you going to do, huh?' McGee asked. Tony ignored him for about five minutes, until he spotted a gas station.

'We need gas.' Tony explained lamely. 'And the bugs don't taste that good, so see if they have any bandannas.'

'How about I pick up a map too?' McGee asked, Tony shrugged.

'If that would make you feel better.' Replied Tony in a nonchalant tone, McGee sighed and entered the store. Tony took the opportunity to call Gibbs.

'So you're still alive.' Gibbs remarked as he answered the phone.

'Yep, did you get Ziva to a doctor?' Silence from the other end of the line. Tony winced, could he be any more obvious?

'I will.'

'How's she doing?' Tony pressed, at the rate he was going, Gibbs was probably going to forgo the head slaps in favour of a 9mm piece of lead between his eyes.

'Fine.' Gibbs replied, it was totally unsatisfactory for Tony, but he decided not to push his luck. He knew that if Ziva wasn't doing okay, he'd have heard some concern in the man's tone, nearly ten years had taught him to notice those things.

'Right, okay.'

'Where are you?'

'Honestly? I have no idea.'

'Well, wherever the hell you are, don't make yourself known to the Mexican or US authorities for a couple of days. It's going to take some time for Vance to sort this mess out.' Gibbs hung up before Tony could say anything else, he tucked the phone away and gave himself a headslap for forgetting to ask about Jackson.

* * *

A few hours later, and Tony pulled off the highway into the desert. Using the map McGee bought, and his McBoy Scout talents, they'd decided on an off road route into the US that should direct them towards another road on the other side, along which they'd find a cheap motel to crash in until Gibbs let them know that Tony was no longer on the Most Wanted list.

Well, that was the plan anyway. Later Tony would complain about best laid plans, and how he was quite possibly the unluckiest guy in the world.

They found their way to the border easily enough, marked by a fifteen foot high concrete wall. The pair stood and gazed up at the fence.

'If Ziva was here, she'd have explosive we could use on this bastard.' Tony remarked after several minutes of staring.

'Come to think of it, now I remember reading an article about the construction.' McGee replied, which prompted an immediate head slap from Tony.

'You knew this was here? Why the hell didn't you say something?'

'I only just remembered I knew.'

'That's really convenient.'

'It's still under construction, maybe if we head east, we'll find a point where they haven't blocked it off yet.' McGee suggested. Tony growled, he had a bad feeling about this whole fiasco. If he wasn't so desperate to get the hell out of Mexico, he'd have turned the bike around and come up with something else.

'What the hell.' Tony shrugged in a resigned fashion. They climbed back on the bike and set off again. After fifteen minutes, McGee was vindicated as they came across the construction site, abandoned because it was a Sunday. They skirted around the site and crossed the border, Tony was grinning from ear to ear, he was almost tempted to stop the bike and kiss the sand, like the Pope.

Tony's happiness was short lived, moments later a pair of four wheel drives appeared, corralling their bike, and a handful of men jumped out, toting rifles, which were aimed squarely at him and McGee.

'You're too white to be Mexican aliens. Drug dealers?' One of them remarked.

'We're not drug dealers, US Federal Agents.' Tony replied.

'Let's see some ID then.' Tony scowled, his ID was in his desk back in his DC apartment.

'You got your badge McGee?' Tony asked him.

'No, you told me not to bring it.'

'I can't catch a break.' Tony sighed.


	15. Chapter 15

'No ID, huh?'

'Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!' Tony shouted, the men exchanged confused looks.

'The Treasure of Sierra Madre.' One of the men replied in a reverent tone, Tony grinned. 'Starring Humphrey Bogart.'

'It's actually pretty convenient, because that film was shot and set in Mexico. In the actual scene, these Mexican bandits try to convince Bogie's character that they're Federales.' Tony continued, excited that for the first time in living memory, someone knew what he was on about.

'Bogie asks to see their badges, and presto, one of the most misquoted and parodied move lines in history.' The oldest man of the group gave the movie buff a head slap.

'Shut up.' He growled. Tony frowned.

'You don't know a Leroy Jethro Gibbs, by any chance?' the older man eyed Tony.

'NCIS Agent. Did me a favour, one time.' The man replied in a slow drawl.

'Yeah, that's him. He's my boss, well, our boss. We work for him in DC.'

'You're a long way from home, boy.'

'Yeah, I know that.'

'I reckon I seen your face on the TV. Something about an abduction below the border.'

'In my defence, he's a corrupt drug dealer.'

'That so?'

'Yes. His sister runs the Reynosa Cartel.' Tony glanced from one face to the next, their reaction to the name Reynosa was stunningly obvious, Tony's investigator side cocked an eyebrow.

'The Reynosa cartel have been causing a lot of trouble for us, they try to run a lot of drugs though our piece of the border. Any enemy of theirs, is a friend of ours.' The oldest man finally explained.

'That's good news, we've been short on friends lately.' McGee replied, grinning. Tony remained silent.

'Well you got one now. What can I do for you boys?'

'We just need to lay low for a couple of days, until things cool down.' McGee explained, ignoring Tony's weird silence, he was probably thinking up new McNicknames.

'Turns out I know the perfect place for that.'

'That's great, sorry, I don't know your name.' Tony interjected.

'Lyle Crane.'

'Lyle, well thanks for this Lyle.'

'It's no problem, I owed Gibbs, this will make us even.' Lyle replied. 'Come on.' Tony and McGee dismounted from the bike and climbed into the back of one of the four wheel drives. They did a sharp U-turn and made off into the desert. Twenty minutes later they found themselves standing in front of a tiny little shack in the middle of nowhere. Tony was impressed, no one would ever find this joint, and conversely, they'd never be able to find their way out of the desert and back to civilisation.

'Wow, no one's ever gonna find us here, that's for sure.' Tony remarked with a growing sense of dread.

'Nope, this is actually private property, so I was able to build her without mentioning it to the Government.' Lyle replied, he drew himself up proudly. 'I only use hand tools. Some of my best work.'

'Okay.' Tony replied, his head was hurting form all the weird similarities.

'There's some water, maybe some tinned food. But we'll be back in a few hours with some proper supplies.' Tony and McGee watched them drive away again. Tony pulled out the phone.

'Please, please have signal.' He begged as it came to life.

'Tony, that's a satellite phone, of course it has signal.' McGee replied. 'What's the rush? Need a pizza?' he joked. 'Not sure Pizza Hut delivers to the Seventh Circle of Hell.' McGee remarked, eyeing the tiny shack with distaste.

'Can't you see what's happening here, probie?' Tony asked. 'Those guys, I'll bet my house they're working with the Cartel. The only reason we're still alive, is because they don't know what's been happening. They're probably going to contact their boss, and when they do, we're done for.'

'How do you know that?' McGee asked, Tony put up a finger as Gibbs picked up on the other end.

'Boss, does the name Lyle Crane ring a bell?' Tony asked immediately, there was silence from the other end.

'Yes.'

'Okay, well here's the breakdown. McGee and I crossed the border illegally, and we ran into this patrol, not cops, one of those volunteer militia things. It's run by Lyle Crane, they wanted to know what the hell we were doing, we explained, soon as I mentioned the Reynosa Cartel, they get all nervous and jumpy. Lyle said he knows you, and as a favour, he drove us to this shack in the middle of butt nowhere so we could hide out. Only I don't think he's on our side, is he, boss?'

'No, he's not.' Gibbs replied. 'He was one of my first cases after Franks retired, said he was innocent of some drugs charges, I believed him, helped him out. Six months later he's found guilty of the same charges.'

'Fuck, I'm so dead, aren't I?'

'Don't use that language, Tony.' Gibbs growled. 'You and McGee have any water?'

'He said there was some in the shack. McGoo, go see if there's water in the shack.' Tony ordered, McGee nodded and disappeared inside.

'I'm not going to search every single square mile of desert, so don't go too far from the shack.' Gibbs instructed. 'Do you know where you are?'

'There were no roads.' Tony replied, he gave a quick breakdown of where he thought they were, telling Gibbs the highway they'd taken to the border, how long they'd travelled to reach the point where they crossed, how long they'd travelled to the shack, McGee came back and added that they'd travelled in a North Easterly direction.

'Here, give me the phone.' McGee asked, Tony cocked and eyebrow and handed it over. 'Abby can track this phone, tell her that the information for the phones I requisitioned is in my desk, that should do it.'

'Good, McGee. Put DiNozzo back on.'

'Yes boss?'

'Stay alive, I'm going to get you out of this.'

'Well, I've made it this far, would suck to die now.'

* * *

**Two more chapters left, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. I never thought a story of mine would ever get 150 reviews, so thanks a million, every one of you has made my day.**


	16. Chapter 16

Gibbs had already hung up on Tony before he finished his last line. He sighed and tucked the phone away, before going to see what McGee was up to. He entered to find McGee filling up a pair of canteens from a drum of fresh water. Tony took the opportunity to snoop. Snooping was an integral skill for a cop, contrary to what Ziva might think. However there wasn't much to look at in this one roomed shack. There was a bunk bed on the far wall, a tiny table in the middle, and other side, a bench space with a camp stove. There was no sink, it would have been pointless without running water.

'Okay, so we have water. What next?' McGee asked.

'Hmm, what do we have left to defend ourselves with?' Tony replied, they sat at the table and McGee placed his and Tony's guns on the table. Tony removed his clip and counted, four bullets. McGee was out.

'There's also one in the chamber,' McGee pointed out. Tony nodded and removed one of the bullets from the clip, handing it to McGee.

'Here, put that in,' Tony instructed, as he worked on removing another one. It flipped out and fell on the floor. Tony cursed and bent down to pick it up, he stopped, noticing something strange. 'Who the hell screws down floorboards?' he wondered out loud.

'Uh, maybe he ran out of nails?' McGee suggested, Tony shrugged, eying the floorboards.

'These three here, they're all shorter than the others, and they're the only ones with screws,' Tony pointed out to McGee. Tony knelt on the floor and pulled out his knife, using the blunt edge to methodically unscrew the screws on one of the floor boards. He pried it off hand handed it over to McGee, before peering in. It was dark, the whole shack was pretty dim, which made it even worse below the floorboards, but Tony could see something down there. He put his hand in and pulled out a bottle of Tequila.

'Why would they stash that below the floor? Tequila's hardly illegal,' McGee wondered. Tony was already at work unscrewing another board. This gave them a clearer picture of the situation. Apart from a crate of Tequila, they found a huge stash of cocaine, hundreds of bricks piled up underneath the floor. Tony did a quick count, the amount there freaked him out. He pulled out the crates of tequila and left the cocaine there, returning the floorboards.

'McGee, take your shirt off, I want you to rip it up into pieces,' Tony told him. 'We're gonna make us some Molotov cocktails.'

'Why my shirt? I'll get burned alive out there without a shirt on,' McGee complained.

'Or maybe you'll tan a bit, McVampire, the all white look is out, you know?

'Tony, I'm Irish heritage, we burn, and peel back to white. Tanning doesn't happen.'

'Then maybe you should look into a spray tan or something, because looking at your pasty white legs all summer is sending me blind,' Tony retorted.

'You're going blind because you're getting old,' Tim muttered under his breath, Tony scowled.

'What did you just say?' He shouted.

'If you're done dispensing beauty tips, there's a sheet on the bed we can use,' McGee suggested sagely.

* * *

Night came, Tony and McGee hid behind the ridge of a sand dune that overlooked the front of the shack, and the track they'd driven in on. Behind them sat the crate of tequila. Tony sat staring out at the horizon, McGee watched as Tony began to suck at the alcohol soaked rag poking out of the bottle.

'Thirsty?' McGee enquired, Tony spat out the rag.

'Nope.'

'Scared then?' McGee pressed, Tony chuckled.

'Your interrogation skills need more work. You think I'm scared, ha,' Tony told him.

'Tony, we have five bullets and a case of Tequila turned into Molotov cocktails, to protect ourselves against a dozen heavily armed drug runners who want us dead. If you're not scared, you're obviously not right in the head.'

'Gibbs will get us out of this. He owes me about five head slaps,' Tony replied.

'Oh yeah. I never figured Ziva for the black lacy type,' McGee joked, causing Tony to turn to the younger agent.

'Is that so? Tell me McDead, how much time have you spent thinking about Ziva's lingerie?' Tony asked.

'What? No, it's not like that Tony-' McGee replied, embarrassed.

'No, come on McGee. She's not here. So uh, what kind of type did you think she was? Sports bra perhaps? Or does she go commando? God forbid, not some ghastly pink or purple thing.' McGee had gone a dark red, he fumbled with his collar, wishing he'd picked an open necked shirt instead of a t shirt.

'Well, sports bra. But don't get me wrong Tony, I have no interest in Ziva's lingerie.'

'Why not? She's a beautiful woman, McVirgin. And you're wrong about the sports bra.'

'How would you know?' McGee asked.

'That's beside the point.'

'I disagree.'

'So if it's not a sports bra, what then?'

'Why do you want to know? So you have an accurate image for those long, lonely nights? Or are you writing another book?'

'I still want to know how you know anything about Ziva's lingerie,' McGee insisted, hoping that if he grilled Tony enough, the older agent would drop the subject before he dug his own hole any deeper.

'Years of ogling her ass McGee.'

'She wears clothes to work, so that doesn't answer my question.'

'Actually it does, but I forget you're not half the investigator that I am. McBlind, do you ever see panty line on Ziva's ass?'

'Uh, no?'

'Exactly, this leaves us with two options. Thongs, or she goes commando. Either way, we know you're wrong about the sports bra.'

'Well I guess you'd know.'

'Huh?'

'Every time I turn around, you're staring at her ass, or her boobs, or just... her.'

'I like to appreciate the beautiful women.'

'Uh, no. These days, it's woman,' McGee corrected, causing Tony to scowl.

'What are you, my shrink?'

'Are you going to deny it?' McGee asked, smug.

'That Ziva is a beautiful woman? Certainly not.'

'That's not what I meant.'

'I know.'

'Well?'

'Well, if you stick your nose any further into my business probie, I'm going to make you regret it.'

'Tony, despite what Gibbs might say, it's not a crime.'

'McGee, it would be a lie to say there's nothing I'd like more than to sit here and braid each other's hair, and talk about feelings. We have company,' The pair fell silent as the two four wheel drives returned, followed by a Chevy Suburban that had seen better days. Tony was impressed that the thing was still driveable, given the number of holes the team had put in it earlier that day.

Tony and McGee watched the three cars pull to a halt outside the shack. Armed men poured out, Lyle Crane and Paloma Reynosa followed a heartbeat later. Orders were shouted, and three of the men entered the shack. They exited moments later and spoke to their bosses. Lyle Crane swore and entered the cabin, he remerged minutes later, peering out into the darkness.

'I screwed up probie,' Tony said suddenly.

'What?'

'I forgot to screw down the floorboards again,' Tony explained, as Crane ordered his men to disperse, the pair watched as the men began to examine the ground. Tony swore, Crane's men knew their stuff. He was distracted by a buzzing from his pocket, he fumbled to answer the phone before it began to ring.

'DiNozzo, listen to me, don't speak,' Gibbs ordered. 'Backup is in your vicinity, so if something comes up behind you, don't shoot them,' Tony shut the phone off and turned, peering into the desert behind them. Moments later he spotted movement, McGee, who had followed his gaze, raised his weapon, Tony immediately forced the gun back down.

'No,' Tony hissed. 'Probie, can't you tell a marine in desert fatigues when you see one?'

'Marines?' McGee repeated, his whisper tinged with happy hopefulness

'How many other friends does Gibbs have?' Tony returned his attention to the shack, he swore and reached for one of the Molotov cocktails. McGee looked too, and paled. One of Crane's men had found their tracks, and was steadily plugging his way up the hill.

'Sitrep?' Tony glanced at the Marine, who had worked his way up to their position.

'We're about sixty seconds away from being dead,'

'Right,' the marine replied.

'Tony DiNozzo, and you are?' Tony asked, the marine glared at him.

'Weren't you briefed? This never happened, we were never here,' The Marine explained, Tony noticed that the man wore no rank or any markings identifying his unit, even the US Flag and his name had been removed from the uniform.

'Right,' Tony exchanged a look with McGee.

Moments later a helicopter roared overhead, shining a spotlight over the scene. Around the entire area, a ring of Marines appeared, the Marine next to Tony stood up. Another four wheel drive appeared, blocking off the track, Ziva climbed out, she kept the car between her and the cartel, Tony noticed that her arm was in a sling and swore at her stupid obstinacy.

'NCIS, drop your weapons,' Gibbs voice echoed around from the speaker on the chopper. Tony and McGee peered over the top, just in time to see the stupidest act they'd ever seen, Lyle Crane's men began to fire up at the chopper.

The chopper cut off the spotlight and rose in an ungainly fashion until it was out of reach of their fire.

The man who had been following Tony and McGee's tracks fired at the Marine above them, hitting the man in the chest. The response was immediate and furious, the Marines opened fire on the cartel men, who returned with their own fire, using the cars as protection.

Tony found himself being crushed into the sand by the body of the nameless Marine, the man groaned, Tony pulled out the Marine's pressure bandage, handing it to McGee.

'Patch him up McGee,' Tony ordered, he peered over the side again at Ziva, who had taken shelter behind the car, taking heavy fire.

He pulled out a lighter and lit the rag on his tequila bottle, throwing it down at the cars.

The bottle smashed over the bonnet of the Suburban, moments later the fire must have reached the tank, because the car blew. The shockwave threw the cartel men off balance, the Marines used the halt in fire to charge in and force the survivors to surrender.

The helicopter landed a short distance away. Tony didn't notice, he was already halfway down the sand dune, sprinting towards Ziva. He skidded in the sand before crouching down next to her.

'You're fucking insane, you know that?' Tony scowled, Ziva glared back at him.

'If you ever set foot in Mexico again Tony, I will kill you myself,' Ziva informed him, she then grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his forward for a kiss. They broke apart, breathing heavily.

I can't believe Gibbs let you drive in that condition,' said Tony, Ziva blinked and began to look around guiltily. He frowned and stood, his mouth fell open at the sight of another marine, bound and gagged in the back seat.

'Gibbs thought I should have hung back, until the fighting was over. I disagreed,' Ziva explained.

'He really thought you'd stay out of it?' Tony asked, he pulled out his knife and began to cut the marine loose. 'Time was, he'd never risk it. He must be getting careless in his old age.' Tony remarked. Moments later he received a resounding smack to the back of the head.

'What was that, Tony? My hearing's getting a bit weak in my old age,' Gibbs asked.

'Uh, I'm so happy to see you, boss?' Tony received another smack, and then Ziva got one of her own.

'When I get back from suspension David, we're going to have to work on your order taking skills,' Gibbs told her.

'Yes, Gibbs,' replied Ziva, looking utterly unapologetic. The Marine pulled the gag out of his mouth.

'Crazy fucking chick,' he muttered, before jogging back to his unit. Tony watched as the Marines marched the survivors to the chopper. Four Marines carried their injured comrade down the dune, followed by McGee, who was pointed towards the car. The Marines all climbed in, and the chopper took flight again.

'Vance had the CIA declare the Reynosa Cartel a terrorist organisation this afternoon, they're headed to Guantanamo Bay,' Gibbs explained. The team climbed into the car, Gibbs and McGee up the front, Tony and Ziva in the back.

'Well, all's well that ends well, I guess,' Tony remarked. It was a useless comment, all four of them knew that they'd be facing a lot of questions on their return to Washington DC. Right now, Tony was doing his level best to forget about it. All he wanted was a hot shower, and a decent bed he could sleep in for a week... starting tomorrow.

* * *

**One more chapter to go... so I'm taking this opportunity to ask why no one has commented on the story title? I mean, I had to prompt my beta to ask. Not just a random word, people. Anyway, hope you stick around for the ending.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Last Chapter, here we go. Longer AN at the bottom.**

* * *

Tony took in a deep breath and reviewed his plan. He smacked the wheel and cursed the air, he knew he could do this, he'd done it plenty of times before. But his mind still kept going over all the things that could possibly go wrong. Tony smiled, as he remembered Ziva telling him that all high risk ops had strong potential to go wrong. He decided to take her advice and just get on with it.

Tony shot one last glare at the rain outside the car, the summer storm had hit at the worst possible time. Didn't god understand what rain like that did to a tailored three piece Ermenegildo Zegna suit? Not to mention his hair, oh god, please not the hair. With that final prayer he kicked the door open and quickly unfurled the umbrella. He jumped out and slammed the door closed, before racing up to the shelter of the stoop outside her building. Ziva must have seen him coming because she buzzed him through immediately. He jumped inside and slammed the door closed, he glanced down, glad that for once he'd forsaken fashion for common sense, the gum boots would be exchanged for his hand crafted leather Gucci loafers in the car, the valet drop off and pick up area at the restaurant was covered.

'Stupid weather,' cursed Tony as he stepped into the elevator.

Ziva opened the door after the first knock, and in that moment Tony forgot all about how the humidity was going to ruin his hair before they even reached the restaurant. Ziva's sky blue cocktail dress stopped below her knee however the thigh high split running up her right leg gave Tony ample leg to ogle. Combined with the scooped neckline, and the bare shoulders, Tony decided he was in for a long night.

'Love the shoes, Tony,' Ziva smirked.

'It's positively apocalyptic out there Ziva, any minute now they're going to declare a flash flood warning for the Potomac,' explained Tony.

'Tony, it's been raining for five minutes. It will take longer than that for flooding to start.'

'How would you know? You grew up in a desert.' Tony replied in a reproachful tone. Ziva grinned at the way his eyes kept drifting downwards. She reached out and grabbed the knot of his blue tie.

'It matches my dress, perhaps Gibbs is wrong about coincidences?' Ziva remarked.

'Or perhaps I saw this dress in your closet and really, really hoped you'd wear it tonight?' Tony replied, stepping forward. Ziva's eyes narrowed as Tony placed his hands on her hips. 'You are gorgeous, you know that? I mean, there's a part of me that wants to suggest we skip dinner altogether.'

'The part of you that is scared of the weather?' Ziva teased. Tony ignored her jibe, opting to kiss her instead. When the broke apart several minutes later, Tony reflected on how very happy he was that he could do that now.

'I don't mind personally, but the restaurant has a rule about shoes. You have to wear some, sweet cheeks.' Tony explained, glancing down at her bare feet.

'I did not want them to get wet.' Ziva explained, shrugging one shoulder at a pair of heels sitting on the hallstand. 'I will wear a pair of thongs out to the car.' Tony's mind went blank, Ziva smirked at the look on his face, she broke away from him and put on a pair of flip flops, picking up her heels.

'They're not thongs, Ziva. They're flip flops, okay?'

'Hmm, but in Australia, they call them thongs. I was there for a while, it is what I am used to calling them.'

'Except you're American now, so you need to use our words,' Tony explained as she locked her front door. Ziva shrugged as Tony placed a hand at the small of her back. 'So if they're called thongs, what do they call a real thong?' Tony asked, Ziva grinned.

'A G-String,' replied Ziva.

'G-String,' Tony repeated. 'How very Australian of them.' Moments later Ziva felt his hand slide down her back.

'Tony, what is your hand doing on my ass?'

'Wanted to see if you're wearing a real thong.'

'Let me rephrase the question Tony, why is your hand still on my ass?'

Tony chuckled and leant down for a quick kiss. 'It's a really nice ass.'

'Dinner first Tony,' Ziva replied, shifting his hand from her ass. 'I will make it worth your while.' Tony swallowed nervously, wondering how the hell he was supposed to control himself with that promise in his head.

* * *

Vance entered his office to find Gibbs team sitting at his conference table, Tony and Gibbs in the middle, Ziva next to Tony, McGee next to Gibbs, and for some strange reason Abby next to him.

'Miss Sciuto, why are you here?' Vance asked, Abby shrugged.

'Team solidarity?'

'Out!'

'Okay.' Abby ducked her head and left the office, Vance tossed the file he'd been reading onto his desk and took his seat at the table.

'The Mexicans still have a warrant out on you, DiNozzo, but that's not an issue since there is no extradition treaty. Hart managed to have the charges against you dropped Gibbs. God only knows how, but SecNav has been dissuaded from firing you all and dismantling the agency.'

'We're not fired?' Tony piped up, straightening in his chair.

'No, but there is going to be an inquiry into this incident. Special Agent's DiNozzo, David and McGee, you are all hereby suspended indefinitely with full pay. Special Agent Gibbs, your suspension has been extended indefinitely,' Vance told them. Tony slumped back in his chair. Underneath the table, Ziva rested a hand on his thigh.

'I was following orders,' Tony muttered, eyeing the director.

'I know that. But the suspension is standard procedure for an inquiry of this scale. Took me a lot of work to get them to let you keep your jobs in light of the carnage you caused down there.'

'TV cops never get suspended, this sucks,' Tony scowled.

'It is what it is, DiNozzo,' Vance replied. 'This meeting is over. Turn your issued weapons and badges over to security on your way out.' The team stood and filed out, Abby was waiting outside the office.

'Bad news?' she asked, seeing their faces.

'We've all been suspended.' Tony replied, his voice laced with anger and betrayal. 'Indefinitely, and there's going to be an Inquiry into our conduct.' Abby's eyes darkened.

'Tony, just say the word, and Vance will disappear from the face of the earth,' the Goth promised.

'No one's killing Vance.' Gibbs interjected, eyeing first Abby, and then Ziva, the former assassin hid her anger better than the forensic tech, but Gibbs could see it smouldering there. 'We're going out for lunch, my shout. Come on.' Gibbs set off for the elevator, his team took a moment to remember how to move their legs. Gibbs never went out to lunch with the team. He certainly never bought them food either.

* * *

It was a silent, morose drive. Abby was living up to her stereotype for the first time in living memory, that alone had a severely depressing effect on everyone else.

The first round of drinks arrived. Gibbs silently watched his team. They'd been through some bad times over the years, faced death, and worse. This was the first time that their professional conduct had come under fire from a higher authority. Abby slouched back in her chair, her arms crossed against her chest, glaring at the weird, multicoloured cocktail in front of her. Tony's beer was already gone. Tony's own worst enemy was himself, and it frustrated Gibbs to know that his senior field agent was probably never going to be able defeat those voices in his head. McGee's beer sat untouched, Gibbs regretted the part that McGee had had to play in recent events. He knew Tim had a huge future, especially with Vance looking out for him. Ziva alternated between looking pissed, and then she'd glance over at Tony and her expression would soften to concern.

'I wanna say something,' Gibbs announced as the waitress finished handing out the second round, drawing the attention of the team. 'I want to apologise for all the stuff that's happened recently. I didn't want you people dragged into it. This was my fight, not yours.'

'That's horse shit, boss.'

Gibbs found himself without words, as attention switched to Tony, who drained the last of his beer. 'Gibbs, none of us were dragged into anything. We're a team, your fight was our fight too, so you can stick your apology, you owe me nothing, and I don't regret any of it. I'd do it all again tomorrow.'

'I agree with Tony,' added Ziva, Tony glanced back at her. 'Of course, I think it is ridiculous that we were suspended at all. With Mossad, our actions would have been a cause for celebration.'

'Our job is about justice, right? Doing the right thing. I can't think of anything that happened down there that I'm ashamed of.' McGee added, there was silence as each of them reflected on the events in Mexico.

'Oh I don't know McGee, there's a certain incident on a motorbike that I think we can both agree wasn't your finest moment.' Tony smirked, McGee flushed a dark red.

'I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.'

'Where's the fun in that?

'Tony, please,' McGee begged.

'Fine, if that's how you want it McGee,' Tony shrugged.

'Tony, you can stop groping Ziva under the table.' Gibbs watched as his senior agent's hands appeared above the table once again.

'Sorry boss,' Tony bowed his head. Later, as Gibbs finished off his beer, he noticed Ziva's hand had disappeared under the table this time.

'I'm gonna hit the head, you two better be done pawing at each by the time I get back,' complained Gibbs, 'If I can't see you breaking my rules DiNozzo, we'll all be a lot happier. Understand?'

'Yes boss.'

Abby only just held it in until the door swung closed behind Gibbs, before she rounded on Tony and Ziva. 'You two have been holding out on me, something happened in Mexico, right?' Tony grinned and put his arm around the back of Ziva's chair, he turned his head to watch the side of the former Israeli's face.

'Do you want to tell her, or shall I, sweet cheeks?' Tony asked, Abby was already clapping her hands together, beaming at the pair. Ziva turned her own head to face Tony, leaving less than an inch between the pair.

'Go ahead Tony.' Ziva told him, Tony turned back to Abby.

'Since Mexico, we've kinda sorta, been breaking one of the rules,' Tony began, and after a dramatic pause, 'We've both stopped carrying a knife around.' Abby threw a handful of pretzels at Tony's head.

'Not funny, DiNozzo.'

'Damn it Abs, this is an Armani suit, do you have any idea how much it costs to get this thing properly dry cleaned?'

'Not as much as it would cost me to dispose of your body, I'll bet.'

'Probably not, since you could just pinch the stuff you'd need from work.'

'No, I wouldn't use stuff from work. As far as trails go, that's just too obvious Tony.'

'I think I'll be making a move. Not cut out for these drinking sessions as I used to be.' Ducky announced, finishing off the last of his scotch. 'Palmer, take it easy on the beer my good man, we still have work tomorrow.'

'Yes Doctor.'

Gibbs exited the restroom as his phone began to ring, he scowled and answered. 'Gibbs.' He said, standing at the bar.

'I do hope you don't take this recent turn of events as an invitation to retire, because I'm not done with you.'

Tony noticed Gibbs on the phone and kicked Abby under the table with his foot. McGee made a noise and bent down to rub his leg. 'Sorry, I was aiming for Abby,' Tony apologised. 'Abs, my favourite forensic lip reader, can you see what Gibbs is saying?' Abby watched Gibbs, and the team watched the Goth, curious to find out who would call him when the entire team was suspended. He rarely got personal calls. Gibbs' eyes widened as he addressed the caller. Abby paled and the team felt their hearts drop.

'Who is it Abby?' McGee prompted. 'What did Gibbs say?'

Abby swallowed and whispered so only the team could hear. 'He said, "Good evening, Mr Secretary."'

* * *

**If anyone found this final chapter dissatisfying, blame it on my wonderful beta, LouC, who has convinced me that a sequel is in order. Aside from the sequel thing, LouC has been very helpful to me for the duration of this story, correcting my grammatical errors (some would call it nitpicking), lending me some aweswome lines (a few of the best lines in this story are actually hers), and generally helping me make sense of the unfiltered stuff that comes out of my head. I want to thank her for being a wonderful help throughout this story, and now that this story is finished, I can get my revenge by hounding you to get your latest inspiration onto paper **evil grin**. If you're a fan of her work, send her a PM to ask how the story is going, if you're not familiar with the author I speak of, check out her stuff, some of the most wonderful fluff on this website. **Diclaimer: LouC does not know that I am saying this stuff, but it's all part of my plan to pressure her back into writing, something she hasn't been doing enough of lately****

**This has by far been my favourite FF story to date, and that is entirely because of the reaction of you, the reader. Your comments and feedback have made me a very happy person of late.**

**Onto the overriding mystery that is the title, Watercolour. if you looked for connections between the word and the story, you were never going to succeed, since Watercolour is merely the title of the song that inspired this story. During the writng process, I have listened to this song hundreds of times (not an exaggeration). The band is an Australian one, based out of London, called Pendulum. These are the lyrics (edited because repeating the chorus is just annoying);**

_When I'm falling down_  
_Will you pick me up again?_  
_When I'm too far gone_  
_Dead in the eyes of my friends_

_Will you, take me out of here?_  
_When I'm staring down the barrel_  
_When I'm blinded by the lights_  
_When I can't see your face_  
_Take me out of here_

_All I believe, and all I've known_  
_Are being taken from me back at home_  
_Yeah do your worst, when worlds collide_  
_Let their fear collapse, bring no surprise_  
_Take me out of here_

_Feed the fire, break your vision_  
_Throw your fists up, come on with me_

_Just stay where you are._  
_Let your fear subside_  
_Just stay where you are_  
_If there's nothing to hide_

**So there we go. For me, these lyrics speak to the role Gibbs had to play during this story, the downward spiral he was on, that could only be halted by his team. The fact that this is more a Tony story with a healthy dose of Ziva and Tiva reflects the things I find easiest to write. Because this story wouldn't be very long if Gibbs was the star, I mean, the guy never talks! I can't work with that.**


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